Reunited
by rmonroe
Summary: The SGC receives word from Kelowna after eleven years, and Jonas has a special favor to ask his friends: to take his children back to Earth. S/J, D/V established relationships.
1. Good News, Bad News

Sam Carter O'Neill tucked her son Nick in gently, kissing his sandy, baby-soft hair. She straightened up and gazed at his sleeping face for a moment in the soft glow of the little star-shaped night light. Everyone always said he looked just like her, with his big blue eyes and blond hair, but Sam always saw Jack in their little boy's mouth and chin, especially when he was relaxed in sleep. The four-year-old snuggled down under the covers and turned on his side to hug his favorite stuffed animal; a large dog his Uncle Daniel had given him on his first birthday. A soft smile came to Sam's face as she watched him.

She always felt so lucky in moments like this. There had been many times in the course of her career at the SGC that she had been sure she would never have the opportunity to get married and have children, and yet here she was, happily married to her once CO and with a beautiful little boy. She kissed Nick again, lingering for a moment and breathing in the smell of his freshly washed hair. Then she turned and tiptoed across the carpet and into the hallway, leaving the door open a crack.

Still smiling softly, she started down the stairs, catching the smell of new carpet. They had bought the home almost six months ago, but Sam could still detect that "new house" smell, especially on the stairs. As she reached the bottom, she could hear Jack talking quietly on the phone. Her smile faded. Usually they didn't get calls this late at night unless there was something wrong at the base. She came around the corner into the kitchen a little apprehensively and watched Jack as he said goodbye and hung up the phone. He was facing away from her, both hands flat on the counter, his shoulders hunched slightly and his head lowered. Without seeing his face, Sam could tell he was wearing his worried frown.

"What's the matter?" she asked, coming to stand next to him.

He glanced up sharply, as if surprised she would be there. Sam had been right. His worried frown was firmly in place. "That was General Landry."

Sam waited for him to continue, but he just dropped his eyes back to the counter. "And?" Sam pressed, touching his arm.

He sighed heavily and looked at her again. "Kelowna made contact with us again."

Sam frowned. "Kelowna? I thought the Ori destroyed everything." She felt a sudden surge of sadness well up inside her, as it always did when she thought of the destruction of Kelowna, and the death of Jonas Quinn.

Jack caught her look and turned toward her. "Jonas was the one who contacted the SGC."

Sam's mouth opened slightly. Surprise hit her and she didn't register that for a moment. "Jonas? They're sure it was Jonas?"

Jack nodded. "He came through the gate himself."

A grin split Sam's face at the thought of seeing their old friend again, but her excitement was dampened by the frown still present on Jack's face. "Jack, what's the matter? Isn't Jonas being alive a good thing?"

Jack sighed. "He wasn't bringing good news. Apparently, they're back to their good old days of hating each other." His voice was thick with sarcasm and he stepped away from her, his jaw clenched.

"How did they even survive the Ori?"

Jack shrugged, his shoulders tense. "A group of them managed to hide and live underground. They've been topside now for seven years but they still can't seem to take their heads out of their –"

"Jack!"

"What? Nick's asleep!"

She frowned at him, her head cocked to the side.

"Okay, okay. They can't seem to form a rational government without us babysitting them."

"And General Landry is agreeing to help them? How much babysitting are we talking about here?" Sam said, suddenly feeling weary at the thought of trying to get the Kelownans to cooperate with each other.

Jack shrugged, his eyebrows drawing together in a worried frown again. "A _lot_ of babysitting. It'll probably be worse than babysitting Daniel's kids," he grumbled.

Sam rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly. "Really, Jack. Is this going to be an extended thing, or what?"

Jack gave her a mock glare, rubbing his arm as if she'd delivered a fatal blow. "If you _must _know, I really have no idea."

"What did the general _say?_" Sam said, attempting to draw on the reservoir of patience she kept especially for her husband and son.

Jack became serious again, slumping down in one of the kitchen chairs. "Some crazy terrorist group has been setting off bombs. Landry wants to at least help the injured."

"But you don't think it's going to stop there," Sam said, pulling out another chair and brushing a few stray Cheerios off it to sit next to him.

Jack shook his head, frustration evident in his clenched jaw. "It never stops there," he muttered.

"So . . . are we going over there to help? We have to at least find Jonas," Sam said, excitement bubbling up in her again at the thought of Jonas being alive after all this time.

Jack nodded. "Yep. Landry said Jonas specifically requested that me and you and Daniel and Teal'c go over there. Something about being the only ones he can trust."

Sam considered that quietly for a moment. While they would all do everything they could for Jonas, Teal'c was visiting his newest grandchild and probably couldn't even be reached for a while, and everyone had families to worry about now. "We have a lot to tell Jonas."

Jack snorted, but the corner of his mouth lifted as he looked at her. "Nah."

Sam couldn't help but smile at him, even while rolling her eyes. "When are we supposed to be at the base?"

Jack smiled at her for a moment, then he blinked and shook his head a little, the small smile staying on his face. "Uh . . . 0800 hours."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "What are you smiling like that for?"

His smile widened into a grin. "I was just thinking it would be funny to not tell Jonas we're married and then I could kiss you and see what he does."

Sam rolled here eyes for the third time, but she had to admit, it would be kind of fun. She decided not to mention that to Jack and got up to get the phone instead. "Do you think Jessica will still be up?"

Jack shrugged. "It's not _that_ late."

Sam dialed and waited for their babysitter to pick up. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jess? Sorry to call kinda late, but could you come over tomorrow morning at seven thirty? Jack and I both have to be at the base for a while," Sam said, hating to impose on her at such short notice and hating that Nick would likely be with his babysitter for most of the day. As much as she trusted and appreciated Jessica, she always felt guilty for leaving Nick for more than a couple of hours with anyone but Jack.

"Sure, no problem," Jessica replied cheerily. "Mike works early tomorrow anyway." She and her husband, Mike, lived just down the street and didn't have any children of their own yet. Jessica ran an online business from home which made her a perfect candidate for the often odd and long hours Sam and Jack had to be away from home. In fact, when they had first moved in, Jessica had come over and offered to babysit any time. Though the knowledge of the Stargate program had been public for six years now, they were still celebrities in many ways and Jessica had been thrilled at the chance to help with Nick.

"Thank you so much, Jess; I'll see you tomorrow," Sam said.

"All right, see you later."

Sam hung up the phone and turned back to Jack just as the phone rang. She turned and picked up the phone, seeing on the caller ID that it was Daniel. Sam hit "answer" quickly and held the phone to her ear. "Hi Daniel, did you hear about Kelowna?" she blurted.

"Hey Sam. Yeah, that's why I was calling. Are you guys going over there tomorrow?" Daniel said, not missing a beat.

"0800 hours. What about you and Vala?"

"Vala's going to stay with the kids but I'll be there. You know _Jonas_ is over there right?"

"Yeah, crazy huh? Have you talked to Mitchell?"

"Mitchell's going in tonight. They're going to try and get the most seriously wounded back to the base."

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye, Sam. Say hi to Jack for me."

"I will. Goodnight, Daniel."

"So?" Jack asked.

"Daniel's going to be there in the morning, and Mitchell's going in tonight," Sam said, leaning against the counter.

Jack sighed and stood up, going over to kiss her. "I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a long day," he said.

"Nicky, come on buddy. Time to wake up!" Sam said, shaking the little four-year-old gently. Jessica was already here, but she didn't like leaving without at least saying goodbye to the little boy.

He rolled over sleepily and blinked at her. "Hi Mommy," he said, a little smile on his face.

Sam grinned at him. He reminded her of how Jack first woke up in the mornings. "Hey little man. Guess what? You're going to play with Jessica today, okay?"

He sat up and nodded eagerly. "Yay! I wike Jessica."

She ruffled his sandy mop of hair, making it stick up in even more directions than sleep had. "Mommy and Daddy will be back in a little while, okay?"

"Okay. You goin' on a mission?"

Jack came into his son's room with a chuckle, pulling on his BDU jacket. "Yep, we're going to go see if we can help some people who're hurt."

Sam smiled. Nick loved hearing stories of their off-world adventures, though usually they toned them down so the little boy didn't get frightened or upset.

Nick nodded seriously, responding to Jack's explanation. "Kay. Me an' Jessica will pway."

Sam laughed at the gravity he treated that sentence with and hugged him tightly, even though he squirmed away, eager to get down and begin "pwaying." Jack swept him up as he jumped off the bed and blew a raspberry into the little boy's tummy. Nick squealed and giggled, still squirming to get down.

Sam grinned at them, feeling profoundly lucky again. Then she looked at the little Mickey Mouse clock hanging on the wall above Nick's door and gasped a little. They would be late if they didn't leave soon. "We'd better go, Jack," she said, standing up and heading toward the doorway. Jack was still holding Nick, but at Sam's announcement he looked up at the clock too and realized what time it was. He set Nick down, giving him a good hug, and kissed the top of his head. Jessica came in then to help Nick get dressed for the day, and Sam and Jack somewhat reluctantly backed out of the room.

"Thanks again, Jessica," Sam said. "We'll try and be back at a reasonable time, but . . ." Sam shrugged. She knew Jessica was used to their strange work hours.

"No problem," the young woman said with a smile. "Me and Nicky are gonna have fun, huh buddy." She ruffled his hair and he grinned up at her.

Nick waved at his parents, even blowing them a kiss. "Bye Nicky, be good okay?" Jack admonished before heading downstairs.

They drove to the base mostly in silence, both thinking about what they would find when they got to Kelowna. As they pulled into the base parking lot, Sam looked over at Jack as he put the car into park. He turned the key and shut the car off, and caught her gaze.

"Jack, are you sure you . . ." Sam started.

Jack frowned. "Don't start."

Sam sighed and dropped her gaze. Neither of them were getting any younger but Jack was in his sixties now and Sam always worried about him going on missions, especially ones like this were they would probably be helping carry injured people and doing other heavy kinds of heavy labor. Technically, Jack had been retired for six-and-a-half years now, but he couldn't seem to stay away from the base, especially when it involved helping an old friend, and he was way too stubborn to ever admit pain or weariness until it was practically incapacitating him.

Jack had unbuckled his seat belt while Sam had been lost in thought and was opening the door to get out. Sam reached over and put a hand on his arm and caught his eyes again. "Just promise you'll be careful, okay?"

Jack pressed his lips into a thin line, just looking at her for a moment. Then he sighed and opened the car door. "Yes, mother," he said getting out.

Sam shook her head and opened her own door, and they walked into the base together. They stepped out of the elevator into madness. People were rushing through the hall, mostly medical teams with people on stretchers, not all of them heading for the infirmary. SG teams were bringing back more wounded then there was room for. The infirmary wasn't huge and it was clear not all of the injured Kelownans would fit there, so the guest rooms were being used as well. Sam realized that most of the medical personnel had probably been there the entire night, as she caught glimpses of their weary faces.

She glanced at Jack and saw on his face that he'd noticed the same thing. They were both feeling bad they hadn't been there the night before to help. They made their way to the gate room, carefully dodging the people rushing everywhere, and saw Daniel at the base of the ramp. They made their way over to him as a fresh batch of wounded were brought through the gate. Sam felt a thrill of excitement flutter in her stomach as she looked at the open wormhole, knowing that Jonas was somewhere on the other side.

"Hey, guys," Daniel greeted them as they came to join him at the base of the ramp.

"Did you just come through?" Sam asked glancing again at the activated Stargate where marines were still bringing wounded people through.

"Yeah. It's pretty bad over there," Daniel said, shaking his head. "I think we've got most of them moved through now, so I'm going to stay here and help set up some extra equipment in the barracks so we can use them for the wounded."

Jack nodded, his eyes flickering over to the where the medical teams were loading people on stretchers. "I think we'll head over there and see what we can help with. Find Jonas."

"Did you see him anywhere?" Sam asked, turning back to Daniel.

Daniel shook his head. "I think I may have seen him briefly in the crowd, but I haven't had a chance to look for him, either."

"Okay then, Danny boy, we'll see you in a bit," Jack said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder and heading up the ramp. Daniel shook his head resignedly at the nickname, a faint smile on his face, and lifted a hand in farewell to the O'Neills before turning and heading for the barracks.


	2. A Favor

Sam and Jack stepped through the gate into even more chaos than the SGC exhibited. The gate had apparently been moved to a huge warehouse of some kind, which had now been turned into a shelter for refugees of the bombings. To the side of the gate, a triage station had been set up, where the wounded were being sorted – the most critical would be taken back to the SGC for care, and the people who had non-life threatening wounds were receiving bandages and antibiotics from a team of medics. The building's tall ceiling and bare cement walls amplified the groans and cries of the wounded and the shouts of family members and friends trying to find each other.

Sam heard the thin, high, wail of an infant and bit her lip. This was worse than she expected. The people were dressed in little more than rags and they were filthy and starved looking, and there was just so many of them.

She looked at Jack. "Jack, this is awful," she said, having to speak louder than normal to be heard over the noise.

Jack scowled. "You'd think they'd have figured out how to play nice by now."

Sam sighed. "Let's see if we can find Jonas and figure out what exactly is going on here."

They walked forward, trying to look at every face in the crowd for their friend. Every pair of eyes they met had a hollow, resigned look that both scared and saddened Sam. She and Jack attempted to ask people if they'd seen Jonas, but the people just stared at them like they didn't understand the question.

"I thought he was supposed to be some kind of leader," Jack grumbled, moving to stand against one of the walls out of the way of the throbbing mass of refugees. "How come no one knows where he is?"

They had been searching for a good twenty minutes, and Sam realized she felt exhausted. The smell and press of so many bodies was making her feel a little sick to her stomach. "I don't know, Jack. Maybe we should go look outside."

Jack nodded and they started toward the nearest exit. As they approached the far side of the huge building, a strange sight caught Sam's eye and she grabbed Jack's sleeve to get his attention.

"Look!" she said, her mouth slightly open in shock.

Against the wall, a large pen made of chain-link fence housed about forty young children. Most of them were crying, but some were just sitting on the bare cement floor, staring vacantly forward. Several people in some kind of uniform were bustling around the pen, going in and taking children out, and putting more back in. Sam and Jack stared in shocked silence at the way the children were being held in a pen usually reserved for animals, maybe equally as shocked that no one seemed to object to the sight.

Jack's jaw suddenly clenched and he headed for the pen, each step resounding with purpose and anger. Sam followed him, equally angered but hoping to stop Jack from doing something stupid. Jack grabbed the arm of one of the uniformed people buzzing about the pen and leaned forward into her face.

"What the hell is this?" he shouted, gesturing widely at the children.

The woman's eyes widened and her mouth moved like a fish without any sound coming out. Sam laid a hand on Jack's arm, trying to calm him down enough that they could get some answers out of the woman. Jack backed away a bit and released his grip on her arm, but his eyes were still focused intently on her, waiting for an answer.

"I-I . . . sir . . . I," the woman stuttered helplessly.

Sam stepped forward. "We just want to know why these kids are being caged like this," she said, trying to keep the anger and frustration out of her voice.

The woman's eyes darted from Jack to Sam. "Well . . . I . . . you see, it's for their safety. We don't want them getting lost again . . ."

Sam and Jack exchanged a glance. "Lost? Again?" Jack said, stepping forward again.

The woman nodded, taking a step away from him. "These children have been separated from their parents, so we keep as many of them as possible here so the parents can come find them," she blurted.

Sam looked over at the group of children, the ones that weren't crying staring back at her with the same hollow expression she had come to expect from the other people in the building. She turned back to the woman. "Isn't there somewhere better you could keep them?"

The woman looked around and shrugged. "I-I'm not in charge."

Jack threw his hands in the air. "Who _is _in charge around here?" he shouted.

The woman stepped back another pace. "I-I don't know. You could talk to Mr. Quinn, maybe . . ."

"What? Jonas?" Sam said, relieved to find someone who might be able to tell them where they could find their friend.

The woman nodded eagerly, sensing they were about to leave her alone. "He's outside, I think."

"_Where_ outside?" Jack growled.

The woman gulped noisily. "I-I think he would be over in the school building. It's just down the street on the left!"

Jack glanced over at the children again and shook his head angrily. "We'll be back," he told the woman menacingly. The woman took another step backward and then scurried off into the crowd.

"Jack, we have to do something about this!" Sam exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the crying children.

"We will," he said, his jaw still clenched as he started toward the door again. Sam took one last look at the children and followed him. They reached the door and Sam took in a deep breath of fresh air before stepping into the sunlight. She squinted and raised a hand to shade her eyes, the sun painful after the gloominess inside the building. Jack was already striding down the street, and Sam recognized the determination and anger in his gait.

Sam hurried forward and took his hand, squeezing it gently, a gesture which he returned. Feeling reassured at his touch, Sam turned her attention to the buildings around them. Most of them had the look of being thrown hastily together, which made sense considering the people hadn't been able to enjoy a peaceful existence above ground long enough to create much of a permanent civilization. The warehouse they had just left was one of the only truly stable-looking buildings. The "road" they were walking on was little more than a wide dirt pathway meandering through the town's slapdash construction, and the air was dry and musty, even outside.

They approached another more permanent building, also constructed mostly of cement, like the warehouse but much smaller. Several people in military-looking uniforms were guarding the perimeter of the building, and other official-looking people buzzed in and out of the entrance, each of their faces reflecting stress and weariness. Sam exchanged a glance with Jack.

"This has to be it," she said as they approached the building. Jack nodded, but they were forced to stop their approach as several of the guards came up to them, brandishing their weapons.

"Whoa, guys," Jack said raising one hand placatingly. "We just need to talk to Jonas."

"No one enters the building except government officials and military personnel," one of the guards said in a rehearsed manner.

Jack frowned in impatience. "Just tell him Jack and Sam are here to see him."

The guard's attitude changed suddenly. His tense, battle ready stance relaxed immediately and he waved his hand for the others to stand down. "Jack O'Neill and Sam Carter?" he asked, almost pleasantly.

"Yes; he's expecting us," Sam said, excitement bubbling up in her again.

"My apologies," the guard said. "Follow me please."

Jack and Sam exchanged surprised glances and followed the guard into the building. It was a big space, but unlike the warehouse, this space was filled with several desks and tables which people were sitting at or standing over. The desks and tables were covered with maps and documents, and people were rushing around and shouting things to each other across the room. Sam immediately recognized the tense atmosphere as that of a battle room. Her eyes scanned the room for their old friend, her stomach containing a strange mix of excitement and apprehension. Suddenly, her eyes snagged on someone bent over a large table surrounded by military officers, and when he glanced up to discuss something with the men standing around him, she recognized his face even though his hair was now almost as gray as Jack's and his face was heavily lined.

"Jonas!" she shouted, pushing past the guard who had been leading them and pulling Jack forward, as she was still holding his hand.

Jonas' head swiveled at the sound of the still familiar voice, even though they hadn't seen each other in over eleven years. Sam and Jack approached, Sam trying to run through the maze of people and tables, tears starting in her eyes at the relief and joy she felt at seeing their old friend again. Jonas came around the table and headed toward them, his face lighting up. Sam let go of Jack's hand and launched herself at him. They hugged each other tightly, both with tears in their eyes. Sam backed up a bit and Jack took her place, hugging Jonas and clapping him on the back. Finally they all stepped back and just looked at each other, a little in shock.

"We thought you were dead, Jonas," Sam finally said, a little shakily. "Why didn't you contact us before now?"

Jonas looked down. "I was afraid you'd assume that. The gate was buried in an explosion early in the Ori invasion. We've just recently managed to excavate it and get it running again." He looked back up at them, a shadow of a smile on his face. "It's really good to see you guys again."

Sam smiled warmly, the prickle of tears starting up in her eyes again. "It's really good to see you too, Jonas."

He smiled back, but a sudden puzzled expression creased his face. "Where are Daniel and Teal'c? They're not . . ." he trailed off uncertainly.

Jack grinned. "Nope, we haven't managed to knock 'em off yet. Well, technically . . ." he gave Sam an amused smile as they both though of the times Daniel _had_ actually died since they'd last seen Jonas.

Jonas still looked confused. "So . . . they're okay?"

"Yeah, Jonas. Daniel's still back at the base helping with the wounded, and Teal'c is visiting his newest grandchild," Sam clarified, watching the surprise on his face.

"Grandchild?" Jonas asked, looking a little shell-shocked.

"That's not all," Jack said, a mischievous grin on his face. Before he could tell Jonas the other surprising events that had transpired in the last eleven years, a sudden sound caught their attention; children's voices, sounding extremely strange in the war room, cut through the noise of the crowd.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Jonas' head immediately snapped toward the sound, and he stepped around Jack and Sam, searching the crowd at knee level. Two little brown-haired boys pushed through the crowd and Jonas crouched down and held out his arms as the little boys crashed into him. A tall, exhausted-looking woman, dressed in the same uniform as the woman Jack and Sam had questioned about the caged children, followed the little boys, holding a little brown-haired girl's hand. Jonas looked up at the woman, tears forming in his eyes.

"Thank you," he choked.

The woman nodded and released the little girl's hand. "My pleasure, Mr. Quinn. You'll have to excuse me, I've got others to get to their parents."

Jonas nodded as the little girl hurried to come stand by him, leaning her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Of course. Thank you again," Jonas told the woman, already turning his attention back to the children, trying to get all three of them in his arms at once. The little boys were squirming around and babbling at him incoherently; the little girl was silently clinging to him, her arms around his neck; and Jonas was grinning and kissing them all over and over again.

Sam and Jack exchanged glances and Jack muttered, "Looks like Jonas has some surprises for us, too." Sam nodded, a little dazed. After a moment, she lowered herself down next to Jonas, touching his shoulder lightly.

Jonas looked up at her touch, suddenly remembering that she and Jack were there. "I'm sorry," he said. He tried to say something else, but it got lost behind three little brown heads.

"Jonas," Sam said gently, already knowing the answer to her question. "Are these your children?"

Jonas nodded. He stood, managing to lift both boys in his arms, and the little girl clung tightly to his leg. Jonas cleared his throat and looked at the boy in his left arm. "This is Kaden." He looked over at the other one, "and Joseph. They just turned three." He smiled down at the little girl. "And this is Elsie. She's six." He looked up at Jack and Sam, trying valiantly to smile, but his eyes filled with tears again. Little Kaden turned his father's face toward him.

"Daddy?" he said, the concern evident in his little voice.

Jonas smiled at him, blinking rapidly. "It's okay, buddy. It's okay." Jonas looked back up at Sam, his face filled with pain. "I'm glad you're here," he started. "You're the only ones I can really trust . . ." Jonas' voice failed him and he looked down. "I want them to be safe," he whispered.

Jack looked carefully at him, guessing what the man was trying to ask them for. "We can take them back with us if you want, Jonas. They'll be safe on Earth until things have settled down here."

Jonas nodded, biting his lip. "It's gonna be hard for them. I mean, we've been apart for a while now, and I just got them back, but . . ."

Jack stepped forward and put a hand on Jonas' shoulder. "It'll be okay, Jonas. We're gonna help clean up here and you'll all be together in no time."

Jonas nodded, hugging the boys closer.

"Jonas," Sam said hesitantly. "What happened . . ."

"To their mother?" Jonas guessed.

Sam nodded.

"She . . . she was killed. About two years ago."

Sam bit her lip. "Oh, Jonas, I'm so sorry."

Jonas looked at her with a small smile, the sorrow still evident in his eyes. "Nothing to be sorry about. You didn't know."

Suddenly, one of the soldiers from outside dashed up to Jonas and spoke quietly in his ear. Jonas paled and closed his eyes for a long moment. "Another bomb went off," he said, obviously trying to stay calm for the sake of the kids. Sam could see the despair and panic in his eyes, though. "I have to go," he said, his voice growing steadily less calm. "Can you . . . can you take them now?"

"Of course, Jonas. We'll stay in touch," Sam said, disappointed they wouldn't have more time to catch up with Jonas but recognizing the urgency of the situation. She and Jack both moved forward to take the little boys who leaned into their father and clung to his shirt. "C'mon, buddy," Sam said gently, taking one of the now crying boys. Jack took the other one and Jonas crouched down to talk to his daughter.

"Baby, you have to go with them now, okay?" Jonas said urgently, taking her little face into his hands. "They're going to keep you safe until Daddy can come get you. You have to be brave, okay, baby?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to leave you again, Daddy," she said tearfully.

"Elsie, I need you to be brave for your little brothers. I need you to take care of them, okay? I _promise_ I will see you again soon," Jonas said, his voice shaking and eyes bright with tears.

Elsie nodded. "Okay, Daddy," she whispered. He hugged her tightly and propelled her toward Sam's outstretched hand.

"Thank you," Jonas said, his voice heavy with emotion.

Sam nodded. Jonas took one last look at his children, all crying hard now, and turned and raced toward the front of the building.


	3. Home Again

"All right, Carter," Jack said, slipping back into his more formal way of addressing her. "Let's get these guys back to the base with the next group of injured."

"Jack, we can take them back ourselves, right? I just want to make sure they're okay," Sam explained, bouncing the little boy in her arms, trying to comfort him.

He nodded. "Yeah. Me too."

They hurried back to the warehouse, going over to where the triage for the wounded was set up near the gate. Elsie had stopped crying and just looked sad and miserable, but the twins were still crying and screaming for their father. Sam kept thinking about Nick, who was just a bit older than these two, and how hard it would be to send him to another world, even if she knew he would be safer there. She talked gently to the little boy in her arms, telling him about the Stargate and trying to distract him. Glancing over at her husband, she could see he was doing the same thing, except he was attempting to distract the little guy with funny faces. Neither of their tactics were working particularly well.

One of the officers managing the triage came up to them and told them they were ready to take the next group of wounded back to the SGC.

"Great, Captain," Jack said. "We're coming with you."

"Yes, sir," the man said, looking questioningly at the children. "Are they in need of medical attention?"

"They're fine. They're just not safe here and an old friend asked us to take them back with us," Jack, staring the man down and daring him to object.

The man backed away. "Whatever you say, sir," he said, just as the gate whooshed outward. The group of marines picked up stretchers and headed through, Sam and Jack following them. Jonas' children all looked terrified at the pool of shimmering light, but at least they were shocked momentarily into silence. The little boy Sam was carrying buried his face in her shoulder and she felt Elsie tighten her grip on her hand. Sam squeezed back and smiled down at her. Then they stepped through.

The familiar sensation of being whisked to another planet was a little different carrying one child and holding the hand of another, and Sam almost stumbled as they stepped out onto the ramp, but managed to keep her balance. The kids stayed in shocked silence for another minute, but the twins looked around at the very different surroundings and starting crying again. Elsie was still gripping Sam's hand tightly and biting her lip, making an obvious effort not to cry.

Daniel was at the base of the ramp, preparing to head out with another SG team back to Kelowna. "How's it going over there?" he questioned, looking with surprise at the kids.

Jack just shook his head. Sam answered Daniel's question over the noise the twins were making. "Not good. We did find Jonas, but he received word that another bomb went off."

"Is he okay?" Daniel asked.

Sam looked at the little boy in her arms and down at Elsie. "He's been better. These are all his, actually."

Daniel stared at them. "Really? Wow."

"Are you going back already?" Sam asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. We're going to try and get some negotiations started."

Jack snorted and Daniel looked at him sharply. "Daniel, we've tried this before. And it's even worse this time," Jack said, anger resurfacing on his face.

Daniel shrugged. "I have to try."

Sam would have put a hand on his arm if she'd had a free one, but she settled with giving him an encouraging smile. "Good luck, Daniel. We'd better go find somewhere to take these little guys."

Daniel nodded and smiled back at her. "Thanks, Sam. You too." he said.

"We'll need it," Jack muttered, as they left the gate room.

They headed for one of the guest rooms on base, hoping to find a private place where they could get the kids calmed down. Unfortunately, as they soon discovered, all of the rooms on base were occupied with wounded Kelownans.

Sam sighed as they leaned against the wall of one of the hallways. The little boys were still crying and poor Elsie was beginning to sniffle as well, probably from sheer exhaustion, and Sam's arms and back were killing her from carrying the three-year-old around. "What are we going to do, Jack?" she said, knowing their only real option was to take them home.

He sighed. "We're taking them home. I'll have someone tell the general."

Sam nodded. "I feel bad about not helping over there."

His brown eyes bored into hers. "Sam, we _are_ helping. I think this is the best thing we could help with right now."

Sam nodded. "Okay." Then she realized something. "Nick is gonna love this."

Jack smiled at her. "Yeah, he does keep asking for siblings."

She smiled back and they rode the elevator up to the surface. It was quite a struggle to get all of them buckled into the car, and the little boys were screaming at being restrained in a strange contraption, while Elsie's lip trembled, her eyes pooling with tears. Sam kept reminding herself that they had probably never seen anything like a car before, and she was sure they were scared to death, but the constant crying from the poor kids was starting to wear on her.

Jack looked over at her as they pulled out of the parking lot and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. He reached over and squeezed her hand. "Hey, what's the matter?" he asked. "Well, besides the obvious, I guess."

She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. "It's just . . . they must be so scared and I don't know how to help them."

Jack sighed, but a smile crept onto his face. Then, suddenly, he began singing "Five Little Ducks" at the top of his voice. The crying faltered in the back seat and Sam used the moment to start the hand motions, exaggerating them to try and keep the kids distracted, a tactic they had often used to keep Nick occupied on long car rides.

To her surprise, it worked. The kids continued to whimper for a moment, but Elsie soon caught on to the idea of the simple song and began trying to copy the motions. When "Five Little Ducks" was over, Jack started in on "I Had a Little Turtle," and after that, "Old MacDonald." By the time they got to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," the twins had fallen into an exhausted sleep, and Elsie was drifting off as well.

Sam continued singing with Jack, but turned back to face forward as craning around like that had been killing her neck. They sang a couple more quiet songs, and by the time they pulled into their driveway, all three Quinns were sound asleep. Sam called Jessica to tell her to keep Nick quiet as they brought the kids in. Jack managed to get both little boys nestled against him without waking them up, and Sam carefully lifted Elsie.

As they came through the door, they cautiously awaited the thunder of little footsteps that usually greeted them when they came in, but Jessica came around the corner holding Nick. The little boy had a finger pressed against his lips.

"Be quiet," he whispered to his babysitter. "They're sleepin'."

Sam nodded at him with a smile and Jack grinned in appreciation at his assessment of the situation. They headed upstairs to the guest bedroom and laid all three of them in the big bed, tucking them in. Miraculously, they stayed asleep, cuddling up to one another. Now that their faces were relaxed, Sam could see the definite resemblance to Jonas, especially in Elsie. She also began to worry about how they were going to tell Kaden and Joseph apart. They seemed completely identical.

As they left, Jack closed the door most of the way, leaving it open a crack so they could hear if they woke up, and went downstairs. Nick plowed into Sam as soon as she reached the last step, knocking her back a little into Jack.

"Hey, buddy," she said softly, picking him up and noticing that Jessica was looking at them curiously. "Sorry, Jess," Sam said to the girl. "We usually manage to throw something unexpected at you."

The young woman shrugged. "It's okay. I'm curious though, where'd you find three more kids?"

Sam smiled. "They belong to an old friend. We're just helping him out for a while."

Jessica nodded. "Well, if you need any more help, I don't have a lot of work this weekend and Mike's working overtime."

Sam nodded gratefully at her. "We just might. I don't know what we're going to do with all of them," she said, a little bit of fear settling in her stomach. Nick was quite a handful all by himself.

"Here," Jack said, pulling out his wallet and paying the babysitter. "Thanks again."

When Jessica had gone home, Sam collapsed on the couch, Nick still in her arms. Jack sank down next to her with a groan.

"Mommy, Mommy," Nick said, patting her cheeks to make sure he had her attention.

"What, Nicky?" she said, smiling at him.

"Do we getta keep 'em?"

Jack laughed. "They're not pets, big guy. They're just staying with us for a while. They're kinda like cousins."

"Oooh," said Nick slowly. "Can we get out the swimming pool like when Efan and Sophie were here?"

Ethan and Sophie were Daniel and Vala's children, and therefore Nick's cousins. Sophie was just a couple months older than Nick, and Ethan was eight. Sam smiled a little, thinking of the first time they had met Ethan. SG-11 had brought him through the gate when he was two years old, claiming that Daniel was his father. Some DNA tests, and a memory device later, and Daniel discovered the little boy _was_ his. A woman on the planet had slipped him something akin to a love potion that forced Daniel to sleep with her and erased his memory of the event completely. SG-11 said the woman was now dead and the villagers had decided the responsibility of the two-year-old was Daniel's. She shook her head in amusement at the memory of Daniel's face when he realized he'd just become a father, and right in the middle of his budding relationship with Vala, too.

Sam turned her attention back to her husband and son just in time to hear Nick say, "Wet's watch _Simpson's,_ Dad!"

"No way, buster," Sam said, stopping that train of thought before it could get anywhere. "How about _Treasure Planet?_"

"Okay!" Nick said with a grin, and went over to the video cabinet.

Sam didn't like Nick watching movies very often because she felt the smart little boy's time and brain power was better spent on more constructive activities, but she was mentally and physically exhausted and a movie sounded like a great idea.

Jack must have picked up on her weariness, because he put his hands on her shoulders for a massage. "Want me to order pizza for dinner?" he asked.

She sighed and turned sideways so he could reach better. "That sounds great." She usually didn't approve of pizza for dinner either, but for the same reasons they were watching a movie, pizza sounded like a good idea too.

Nick soon got the movie going. He had figured out the TV, microwave, computer and pretty much every other electronic device in the house almost before he could speak, and Sam had been so proud of him. Except for the time he found a screwdriver and unscrewed the hinges on every door in the house.

The little boy bounced back up onto the couch next to his dad. "You like this movie, huh Daddy. 'Cause of that farting guy, huh," Nick said with a giggle.

"Nick," Sam groaned. While he took after Sam in a lot of ways, there were definitely parts of Nick that came from his dad.

Jack grinned at his son. "Yeah, that guy's funny. But remember, don't say 'farting' in front of Mom," he said in a very audible whisper. Sam reached behind her and smacked his leg. "Hey, do you want a massage or not?" Jack asked with a teasing grin.

Sam folded her arms and leaned back to look at him. "Fine, I'll be nice."

He smiled back at her and continued his massage, Nick snuggling into his other side.

Sam sighed and closed her eyes. Carrying around a crying child all day had exhausted her, and she was feeling more than a little overwhelmed at the thought of caring for three extra children she really didn't even know. She was considering letting herself take a short nap when the couch bounced as Nick jumped into Jack's lap.

"It's the farting part, Daddy!" he said with a laugh. Sam rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile as Nick dissolved into giggles.

She eventually drifted off, partly because of Jack's massage and partly because she realized she might be up a good portion of the night with the Quinns. If they were anything like Nick, they would have a lot of trouble adjusting to sleeping in a new place, and with what these kids had been through, she guessed they'd have some pretty bad nightmares. Besides, she'd seen _Treasure Planet_ about a thousand times.


	4. Everyone Likes Pizza

Jack looked over at Sam, sleeping peacefully, her feet tucked under his thigh as usual. Her feet were always cold. He watched her with a little smile, glad that she was getting some rest while she could. He leaned his head back against the couch and started contemplating a nap himself.

Just as he was about to drift off, he heard the movie end and felt the couch bounce as Nick jumped down to turn off the TV. So much for a nap. He opened his eyes just in time to catch Nick as the little boy leaped back into his lap.

"Daddy, wet's go wake up the other kids so we can pway in the swimming pool!" Nick said at a much louder decibel than necessary.

"Shh! Nicky, Mommy's sleeping, and we're not going to wake up the other kids, yet. I don't know if we're going to get the pool out today either, okay?" Jack said, ruffling the little boy's hair.

Nick folded his arms and stuck out his bottom lip. "Daaaady, dat's not fair!"

Jack sighed. "You wanna come help me order pizza?"

That brightened his face. "Yeah!" he shouted, running into the kitchen. Sam started awake at his exuberant cry.

Jack stood up and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, we're just going to order the pizza," he said softly to her. She nodded and settled back down into the cushions.

Nick poked his head around the corner. "Come _on_, Daddy!" he cried.

Jack laughed. "I'm coming, buddy!" He caught up to Nick and lifted him onto the counter next to the phone. "You remember what to push?"

"Yup," the little boy said picking up the phone and dialing the speed dial for the pizza place. Jack knew Sam was always a little horrified that he had put the pizza delivery number on speed dial, but more so that their four-year-old son knew what it was.

Nick waited for someone to answer, his heels tapping a little rhythm against the cupboards. "Hi," he said as someone answered. "I need to order a large pizza . . ." Jack held up two fingers and pointed upstairs to remind him of the extra people they would need to feed. "Oops, sorry, _two_ pizzas. And they both hafta have extra cheese and pepperoni." Jack mouthed "veggie." "Um, sorry, half of one hasta be veggie. Got it? Kay, see ya later Rob."

Jack grinned. Sam was also a little disturbed that her son knew many of the "pizza guys" by name and they knew him. That was because pretty much every time Sam was off-world, or at the base in the evening, Jack and Nick ordered pizza for dinner.

Jack gave Nick a high five and helped him down. "Now can we go wake the other kids up?" Nick asked, his big blue eyes pleading.

Jack crouched down in front of his little boy. "Nick, they might not be very happy when they wake up. They don't really know us and they miss their daddy, so they might be really sad."

Nick frowned. "How we gonna make 'em happy, Daddy?"

Jack smiled at him. "I don't know, buddy. Hopefully they like pizza, huh?"

"Daddy, _everyone_ wikes pizza!"

Jack laughed at that exclamation and stood back up, laying a hand on Nick's head. "Okay, little man, what's something quiet we can do so we don't wake up all the sleeping people?"

He thought for a minute. "Twister!"

"Nicky, you can't play Twister with two people."

"Yes huh, Daddy! You can spin and I'll do it."

Jack shrugged. "Okay, if you think that's fun we can try it."

"Me and Unca Daniel did it once!"

"Really? Well then, it must be a riot," Jack said, rolling his eyes as he thought of the many less than thrilling activities Daniel had come up with over the years.

Nick giggled and grabbed Jack's hand, tugging him toward the closet where the game was stashed. Jack got it down from the top shelf and set up the mat. Nick stood in the middle and stretched his arms out dramatically.

"Kay Daddy, I'm weady!"

"Remember we have to be quiet okay?" Nick nodded. "Left foot, blue."

Twister kept Nick occupied for a good half hour, which was a small miracle with the kid. The little boy was contorted into an impossible position and was giggling so much his balance was seriously threatened, when they heard a knock at the door. Nick collapsed to the mat and scrambled up to get the door, stretching up on his toes to reach the doorknob.

"Hey, Alex!" he said, greeting the pizza delivery boy with a little wave.

"Hey, Nick, how's it going?" the kid said with a grin.

"Gweat!" Nick said, bouncing up and down. "My cousins are here and we're gonna pway in the swimming pool and eat pizza!"

The kid chuckled and handed the pizzas to Jack. "Sounds like fun."

"Thanks, Alex," Jack said, handing the money to the kid and smiling at Nick's exuberance.

"No problem, General," Alex said, giving Nick's hair a good ruffle and turning and heading back to the car.

"See ya later, Alex!" Nick said, waving. Jack shut the door with his foot and let Nick carry one of the pizza boxes into the kitchen.

"Go wake Mommy up, Nick," Jack said as he got paper plates and napkins out.

Nick bounded into the living room and jumped onto the couch at Sam's feet. She jerked awake and blinked a few times to see Nick holding out his arms to her with a big grin. "I missed you, Mommy!"

She laughed and hugged him. "I was right here, Nicky."

"I know," he said, still clinging to her as she stood up. "But you were sweeping, not _pwaying_ with me."

She kissed his sandy hair. "I'm sorry. Is the pizza here?"

"Yup! And we even got two for the kids upstairs but they're not awake yet so I guess they don't get any, and Daddy said they might be sad but I told him _everyone_ wikes pizza!"

Sam laughed. She loved it when he just took off like that and talked so fast he was hard to understand. "Maybe we should go wake the other kids up," she said carrying Nick into the kitchen.

Jack raised his eyebrow. "If you're brave enough to wake them up, be my guest."

Sam rolled her eyes. "They'll never go to sleep tonight if they sleep any longer. C'mon Nick, let's go meet your cousins!"

"Yay!" Nick said, squirming to get down. He ran up the stairs, Sam close behind.

"Nicky! Let's wake them up gently, okay?" Sam said trying to grab him before he swung the door open and banged it into the wall. She grabbed his hand and opened the door herself. The three little kids were still huddled up together, their hair now damp with sweat from being in the same bed under the thick comforter. Sam sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Nick into her lap.

"Hey, guys," she said softly. "It's time to wake up!" She peeled back the covers a little and they stirred, Elsie blearily opening her eyes. She looked around, confusion evident on her face. "It's okay," Sam said. "My name is Sam, and this is Nick. I'm really good friends with your daddy."

Elsie sat up and regarded Sam with deep brown eyes. "Are you going to take care of us now?"

Before Sam could answer, Nick spoke up. "Yeah! Daddy said we could maybe even get out the swimming pool!"

Elsie studied him, a confused frown on her face. "What's a swimming pool?"

Nick glanced up at Sam. The look on his face clearly said: "How could anyone not know what a swimming pool is?"

"We'll show you later, Elsie," Sam said with a smile. "You're just going to stay with us for a little while until it's safe for you to go home with your daddy."

Elsie nodded. "Sometimes Daddy has to send us away to keep us safe," she said, sounding wise beyond her years.

Sam smiled at her though a deep sadness had filled her at the little girl's simple words. It appeared that this wasn't the first time Jonas had been forced to send his children away.

One of the little boys sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking around with a slight pout.

Elsie put an arm around him. "It's okay, Joseph."

Sam made a mental note. _Okay, the one with the dark brown jacket is Joseph._ Kaden sat up too and snuggled into his sister.

"Hi, guys!" Nick said brightly, crawling off Sam's lap to sit next to the other kids. "I'm your cousin!" The twins stared at him. "Geez, don't you guys talk or anything?" Nick said bouncing on the bed.

Elsie shook her head. "Kaden and Joseph don't like to talk," she said, hugging them a little closer.

"How come?" Nick asked, cocking his head.

"It's okay Nick, they don't have to talk if they don't want to. Do you guys want to come downstairs and have some dinner?" Sam said, putting a gentle hand on Nick's shoulder.

Elsie nodded and they climbed out of bed, the twins holding onto their sister's hands. When they reached the top of the stairs, they encountered difficulty. Sam offered to carry the boys, but they didn't want to let go of Elsie. So one of them held onto the railing and the other one took Sam's hand and they made their slow way down the stairs. Nick ran ahead to announce that "the cousins woked up" to Jack.

By the time they got to the kitchen, Jack had already got pizza on plates for everyone, and juice in sippy cups for the three little boys and a "big kid" glass for Elsie. Sam put three chairs close together on one side of the table so the three siblings could all sit as close as possible. Jack helped her lift the twins into their seats, and Elsie sat between them. Nick was bouncing all over the kitchen with excitement and the prospect of pizza, so it took a minute for Jack to corral him and get him to sit down.

When everyone was seated, Jack looked around and said, "Well, dig in!"

Elsie, Kaden, and Joseph stared at their plates.

"C'mon guys!" Nick said lifting his piece of pizza as if he were toasting them. "Have some! _Everyone w_ikes pizza!"

Elsie looked at Sam, and Sam nodded encouragingly. "It's good! See, you just pick it up and take a bite!"

The twins' eyes darted around the table, watching everyone eat. Then the one closest to Sam, she was pretty sure it was Kaden, picked up the pizza and took a bite. He chewed and swallowed as his siblings watched. He finished the bite and broke into a big grin that reminded Sam so much of Jonas that a lump rose in her throat. Seeing his brother's reaction, Joseph tucked into his piece and gave them exactly the same smile. It took Elsie a minute longer, but she was soon enjoying her piece too.

Nick beamed and jumped out of his chair, waving his piece of pizza around. "Everybody wikes pizza! Everybody wikes pizza!" he sang.

Jack laughed at his antics but Sam grabbed the pizza out of his hand before the pepperoni flew off. "C'mon Nicky, you know the dinner rules. You have to stay at the table!"

Nick sat back down somewhat reluctantly, and took another huge bite of pizza. "I can beat you, Daddy!" he said through a full mouth.

"You're on, pal!" Jack said, despite Sam's protesting look. As Jack and Nick raced to finish their piece of pizza first, she looked back at their three guests and was surprised to see that the twins had caught on to the contest and were stuffing their faces full of pizza, keeping a careful eye on their competition. Elsie was shaking her head a little at the antics of the boys at the table.

Sam caught her eye. "Men!" she mouthed, rolling her eyes. Elsie seemed to get the joke and gave Sam that trademark Jonas smile. Sam grinned back at her.

"I won, I won!" Nick shouted jumping up on his chair, his mouth still full.

"Sit down, buddy!" Sam said. "And you have to swallow all that before you win." While she didn't approve of this game, it was one Nick played often with his dad and she was well aware of the rules.

Nick plopped down, chewing as fast as his little jaw would go. Suddenly, Joseph jumped up and opened his mouth. Sam thought he was going to shout something, but when he remained silent, she realized he was just demonstrating that he had swallowed all of his food.

"Joseph wins!" Sam said, pleased that the little boys seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Aw, man!" Nick and Jack said at the same time.

"Give me five, buddy!" Jack said holding out his hand to Joseph. The little boy looked at him with confusion. "Uh, like this. Let's show 'im how Nick." Nick happily demonstrated a five, and Joseph quickly caught on, slapping Jack's hand over and over. Nick leaned across the table to give Joseph a five too. Then Kaden held out his hand and suddenly everyone was giving each other fives, even Elsie and Sam. The kids were all giggling but the fun came to an abrupt halt when Kaden's elbow knocked over Elsie's cup. The poor little guy looked horrified, especially when Elsie glared at him. Kaden's eyes filled with tears under the gaze of his sister and he crawled under the table.

"It's okay everyone," Sam said coming over with paper towels. "It was an accident. Hey, Jack, now might be a good time to get out the swimming pool."

* * *

A/N: My apologies for not saying this sooner: thanks to my awesome betas ChristianGateFan-StarTrekFreak and Sonkist. You're the best!


	5. Pool Time

"Okay everybody! Swimming pool time!"

Nick cheered and raced out to the back yard, followed hesitantly by Elsie and Joseph. Kaden stayed under the table. Sam cleaned everything up and crouched down so she could talk to him.

"It's okay, Kaden, I'm not mad. Can you come out and play with the other kids?"

A little hiccuping sob escaped him, but he crawled out from under the table. She took his hand and led him out to the back where Nick and Joseph were chasing each other around the inflatable pool, giggling, and Elsie was helping Jack get the hose out. Kaden let go of Sam's hand and went to join the other boys racing around the pool. As she watched them, a sudden thought hit her.

"Hey, Jack, I've got to run to the store really quick and get swimming suits for these guys!" she shouted over the noise of the water splashing into the pool.

"The boys can probably wear some of Nick's old ones," he replied.

"Okay, I'll be right back. You okay with all of them?"

Jack grinned and gave her a thumbs up just as Joseph tripped over the hose and sent water spraying in all directions.

Sam winced. "I'll hurry!" she promised and went back into the house.

"Okay!" Jack shouted. "While the pool fills up we're all going to go in and get ready!" He put the hose back in the pool and grabbed the first kids who came near him; one of the twins (he had no idea which was which) under one arm and Nick under the other, and Elsie and the other twin trotted after him into the house. "First stop is the potty," Jack said, grimacing at the word. He still thought it was strange that he regularly used words like "potty" now. "Nicky, you first, then go change into your suit, okay?" He set the little boy down and he tore up the stairs.

"Okay, we're going to use the one down here, guys," Jack said still carrying one of the twins. He headed into the bathroom and waited to see if any of them knew what to do with a toilet. "You know what to do, Elsie?" he asked her.

She gave him a look which could only be described as disgust, and walked over to the toilet. "I have to be alone," she said with a pointed look at the door. Jack chuckled and grabbed the other twin's hand, leading him out of the bathroom.

Elsie came out a few minutes later, but Jack hadn't heard the toilet flush or the sink running. "Okay, we're missing a couple of steps, kiddo." He set the twins down and closed the door so they wouldn't run off, and showed them all how to flush the toilet. They were a little scared of it at first, but the twins soon couldn't get enough. Then he showed them the sink and they had even more fun, cupping the water in their hands and splashing each other.

He realized with a twinge that these kids had been forced to live in fairly primitive conditions for their entire lives. He helped the twins use the toilet and then herded them all back upstairs to find Nick. Just as they reached the top of the stairs, Nick flew out of his room with his bright red swimming shorts on and a pair of swim goggles.

Elsie just stared at him, but the twins seemed to think it was hilarious and they both made a grab for the goggles. Jack grabbed their hands and Nick danced out of their reach with a yelp.

"Okay guys, let's find you some swimming stuff," Jack said, still holding onto the twins' hands. As soon as they got into Nick's room though, Nick saw a need to show the twins how to jump on the bed. Jack didn't bother stopping them, it was better than them making a mess with all the Legos or something. He got down a box from the top of Nick's closet labeled "Summer 2014" and dug through it until he found a couple of Nick's old swim trunks.

"Do I have to wear those?" Elsie asked with some concern.

Jack smiled at her. "Nope, Sam's going to get you a swimming suit. These are just for the boys."

She smiled in relief.

"Now, do you think you can get your brothers over here?" Jack asked.

"Kaden! Joseph! Come here!" she called.

To Jack's surprise, the little boys came right over. That was good to know. "Okay guys, you have to take all your clothes off to swim. You're going to put these on, okay?"

"Wike me!" Nick shouted, the excitement of the impending swimming pool time becoming almost too much for him to contain.

"Calm down, Nick," Jack warned. He started helping the twins take off their clothes and realized sadly that their clothes were patched and worn and falling apart. Elsie's faded sun dress was in much the same condition.

Jack got the twins into the swimming trunks and herded all the little boys down the hall. When they reached the stairs, Nick showed the twins how to slide down the stairs on their butts, and they all got a big kick out of it. Elsie shook her head again and took Jack's hand. He wasn't sure if it was because she didn't feel comfortable going down the stairs by herself, or if it was just an unconscious gesture, but she continued to hold his hand as they went into the back yard.

The blow-up pool was _really_ full by now, and Nick cannon-balled into it, sending water sloshing over the side. Jack picked up Elsie instead of severing the link between their hands and hurried to turn off the hose before the pool could get any fuller. He headed back to the porch, still carrying Elsie, and noticed she was watching his face with her deep brown eyes.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry, haven't I introduced myself?" he asked teasingly. "I'm Jack." He held out his hand for her to shake. Thinking he meant to give her another five, she slapped his hand.

"I'm Elsie, but I think you already knew that," she said.

Jack smiled at her. "Yup, your daddy told me." He put her down and sat on the back step to watch the three boys splash water at each other. "Sam'll be here soon with your swimming suit, then you can go play," Jack said as she sat down next to him.

"How come you know my daddy?" she asked, copying his posture and resting her elbows on her knees.

Jack chuckled at the seriousness emanating from the little girl. "Well, we met him when Kelowna was still a city above ground. He was a scientist working on some stuff that we needed here on Earth. Nick! Stop that! No rocks in the pool! Ever!"

Elsie was still watching him.

"Anyway, your daddy helped us get some, but he got in trouble with the government so he came and stayed with us on Earth for a while."

Elsie nodded. "How about my mommy?"

"I actually don't even know who your mommy is, kiddo," Jack said gently.

Elsie looked away. "Her name was Kianna."

That name rung a bell with Jack but he couldn't quite place how he knew her. "I bet Sam will know her," he said. "Do you remember her?"

The little girl nodded, eyes down. "A little bit. I mostly remember that daddy changed when she died. He didn't play with us anymore and he was just mad all the time."

Jack put an arm around the petite little girl's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Elsie. Sometimes bad stuff happens and there's not really anything you can do about it. But you know what? Things are gonna get better now. Your people are free and we're going to help them, so maybe your daddy will be happier."

She nodded and scooted closer to him. "My middle name is Liberty because Daddy wanted to always remember that we'd be free someday."

Jack squeezed her shoulder and smiled. "That's pretty cool, kiddo." He heard the back door open and Sam came out onto the porch smiling at how comfortable Elsie looked with Jack, and how much fun the boys were having in the pool.

"Do you want to go put this on, sweetheart?" Sam asked holding out a pink swimsuit.

Elsie got up and fingered the swimsuit. "That's for me?" she asked, eyes wide.

Sam smiled at her, realizing she'd probably never had anything brand new before, and never this bright of pink. "Yup! I got you some more stuff too." Sam pulled out another couple of sun dresses, a couple pairs of jeans and half-a-dozen brightly colored t-shirts. Elsie reverently touched each one, which made Sam want to cry.

Elsie picked up the swimming suit again. "Can I go put it on right now?" she asked.

"Of course! You want me to help you?" Sam said taking off the price tag.

Elsie shook her head. "Just tell me which side the front is."

"The butterfly goes in the front. Okay? Let me know if you need help," Sam said, holding the door open for her. Elsie hurried inside and went into the bathroom. Sam came and sat next to Jack. "How'd it go? I see you at least survived."

Jack smiled at her. "Yeah. How do you tell the twins apart by the way?"

She looked over at them. "Well, now I have no idea, but the one in the dark brown jacket was Joseph and the one in the light brown jacket was Kaden."

Jack thought of the mixed pile of clothes in Nick's bedroom and sighed. "I guess we'll never know," he said dramatically.

"I'm sure Elsie can tell. What were you guys talking about anyway?"

"Her parents. Hey, do you remember someone named Kianna?"

"Yeah, she was the girl that was infected with the Goa'uld that was working with Jonas to stop the Nauadriah from blowing up the planet. Why?"

"Ah. That makes sense. Elsie said Kianna was her mother's name."

Sam gasped a little, realizing that Jonas had said she was dead. "Oh, poor Jonas."

They heard the back door again and looked back at Elsie. She came shyly out onto the porch, looking adorable in the bright pink swimsuit. Sam smiled at her. "You look beautiful, sweetheart!" she exclaimed. Elsie grinned the "Jonas Grin" and touched the butterfly in the front.

"Thank you Sam," she said. Sam looked at her and noticed her long, slightly tangled hair.

"Hang on a sec, I'm going to get something to keep your hair out of your way, okay?"

The little girl nodded and Sam ran inside to get a hair elastic. She brought Elsie's hair up into a ponytail. "Okay, you're all set!"

She walked over to the side opposite where the boys were trying to see who could stay underwater the longest, and stuck her finger in. She shivered and looked back at Jack and Sam. "It's cold!" she said, frowning.

Jack grinned at her. "It works best if you just jump in! You'll get used to it, I promise."

She looked doubtful, but backed up a little and jumped right in, sliding across the bottom of the plastic pool into the boys. They all came up spluttering and giggling and were soon engaged in an all out splash war.

Sam laughed and leaned her head on Jack's shoulder. "Jonas is going to have to come visit a lot because I can tell I'm going to miss them when they all go back to Kelowna."

He put an arm around her waist. "Yeah."

"Did you notice the kids' smiles? All three of them look just like Jonas when they smile."

Jack smiled. "I didn't think it was possible to get sick of a smile until I met Jonas. Good thing it's cuter on his kids."

Sam laughed. "So, what are we going to do with them all tomorrow? One of us needs to at least check in with Jonas and tell him that they're okay."

"Which would you rather do?"

"Why don't you go help out some more at the base, and I'll stay here with the kids."

"Oh good, I was worried you were gonna want to get out of here."

"Are you kidding?" she asked nudging him with her elbow. "If I left you alone with all these kids, they'd die of a pizza and Simpson's overload!"

He nudged her back. "So what are _you_ going to do with them, smartypants?"

She thought for a minute. "Good question. At least they're not all screaming anymore."

He snorted. "Good point. They kind of seem to adjust pretty fast, like they're used to being shipped off like this."

Sam nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah. Well, if Jonas is an important political figure, then it would stand to reason that his kids would be potential targets. It's not exactly a stable planet."

"Poor little guys," Jack said looking at them.

"Elsie's had to grow up so fast, and I still haven't heard the twins say a word. I hope they aren't seriously messed up with all the crap going on on their world," Sam said, growing a little angry. "It's really not fair. It's not their fault the Ori attacked and that the leaders of the planet still can't seem to agree on anything."

"Hey," Jack said gently. "We'll just do what we can for 'em and they'll be alright."

"Yeah, I know."


	6. Boo Boos and Bedtime

A/N: Okay, a couple more fluffy chapters, but things will start getting exciting soon! Explosions and stuff. :)

* * *

Jack and Sam turned their attention back to the kids in the pool just in time to see one of the twins slip and crash his head into his brother's chin. They both started crying, and Sam and Jack hurried over to them, each picking up a soaking wet little boy.

Sam carefully inspected the one she was holding. It looked like he'd just bitten his lip and was bleeding a little, but nothing serious. After she was sure he was okay, she let him snuggle his head on her shoulder and she stroked his wet hair as his whimpers subsided. Jack had followed a similar process with the other one.

Sam felt the little boy shivering against her and looked at Nick and Elsie who were still in the pool. They were shivering too, and Sam noticed the small breeze that had come up and that the sun was going down.

"Okay guys, I think that's it for today. I'm going to go grab some towels and everyone needs to dry off and come inside, okay?" she said, heading for the house. Nick whined, but his teeth were chattering so it wasn't very convincing.

Sam went to the hall closet and wrapped the twin she was holding in a big towel, and carried several others back outside. She handed one to Jack who wrapped up the twin he was holding.

"C'mon guys," Jack said, looking down at Elsie and Nick. "Time to get out."

Elsie reluctantly stepped out of the pool and wrapped a towel around herself, goose bumps covering her skin. Nick followed her, still whining, but he accepted the towel and Jack tried to wrap it around him with one arm. They all went inside and back up to Nick's bedroom.

"Let's just do PJ's, it's getting close to bedtime," Sam said, setting her twin down and drying him off. "Oh, crap! I forgot to get Elsie any pajamas!"

"It's okay, I can just wear one of the dresses," Elsie said, eager not to be a problem.

"No, it's all right sweetheart. I'll just get you one of my t-shirts."

Jack rooted through the "Summer 2009" box until he found two sets of Nick's outgrown pajamas.

"Oh, here Jack, I got all of them some underwear," Sam said handing Jack a package of Superman underwear. "Nicky, get off the bed and put your PJ's on, buddy!"

Sam quickly dried off her twin and got him into the PJ's, knowing that Nick was way too wound up to listen, and poor Elsie was still standing there shivering. Turning the twin loose, she went over to the bed and hauled Nick to the floor. "Go over to Daddy and let him help you put your PJ's on, buster," she said taking him over to Jack. "I'm going to get something for Elsie. Come on, sweetheart," she said grabbing the package of Disney princess underwear and holding out her hand to Elsie. The little girl followed her into her and Jack's bedroom and Sam found an old t-shirt that would work as a nightgown for her. She pulled out one of the pairs of underwear and showed them to Elsie. She giggled.

"Underwear on Earth has pictures on it?" she said, inspecting the purple print.

Sam laughed. "Well, mostly just kid underwear, but it's kind of fun, huh?"

Elsie nodded, still grinning, and Sam helped her get out of the wet swimsuit and into the underwear and t-shirt. As Sam attempted to comb out her hair, Elsie asked, "Sam, did you know my mommy?"

"Yeah," Sam said a little sadly. "I did. Not very well, but we worked on kind of a project together."

Sam combed in silence for a minute, listening to the noise of three little boys and one big boy running around in a confined space. "Sam?" Elsie said again.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know my dad when he was happy?"

Sam paused, not knowing what to say. "Your daddy was very happy when I knew him."

Elsie sighed. "Jack said he'd be happier now, but I don't think he'll ever be happy without mommy."

Sam felt her eyes filling with tears and she crouched down and turned the little girl so she could look her in the face. "Things have been really hard for you and your daddy, but that doesn't mean that he'll never be happy again. It might take a long time, but I know for sure that you make your daddy very happy."

Elsie nodded. "That's good I guess."

"Yeah, it is. You want to go see if the boys have destroyed the house yet?"

Elsie smiled, and rolled her eyes. "Men!"

Sam laughed and took the little girl's hand. The boys had spilled out into the hallway, and the three little ones each had one of Nick's collection of plastic lightsabers. Sam smiled. The lightsabers always reminded her of Teal'c, because he gave Nick one for his birthday and Christmas almost every year. When Sam had asked him last year what he thought a four-year-old needed upwards of five lightsabers for, he had almost smiled and said, "Perhaps one day young Nickolas O'Neill will have siblings."

Sam helped Jack confiscate the lightsabers and herd the kids downstairs. "I hate to say it," Sam said. "But I think another movie would be a good idea."

Jack nodded, attempting to get the twins to stay on the couch. "What do you want to watch, Nicky?"

Nick stopped running laps around the coffee table and went over to the video cabinet. "How 'bout . . . Oz! Oz! Oz! Oz!" he started chanting and running around waving the movie.

"Nickolas Carter O'Neill, you sit your rear on this couch right now and calm down!" Jack shouted, finally losing his patience with the energetic little boy. Nick dropped the movie on the floor and plopped onto the couch next to the twins, folding his arms and glaring at Jack.

Sam couldn't help but appreciate that years of giving orders in the field gave both of them a pretty good command voice. They tried not to use it on Nick too often, but it did work.

"Thank you!" Jack sighed dramatically when all four kids were sitting on the couch. Sam went over and put the movie in, and the four of them were instantly enthralled. Nick because Wizard of Oz was one of his favorite movies, and the other three because they'd never seen a TV before. Good, she'd been hoping for that effect! With any luck, it would even put them all to sleep.

"I'm going to go take care of the pool," Jack said, heading outside.

Sam nodded and went to pick up the wet towels and clothes that had been randomly left throughout the house. She realized with sudden horror that laundry for four kids was going to be a nightmare. _Four kids is kind of a nightmare in and of itself_, she thought.

Sighing, she dumped all the wet towels and swimsuits into the bathtub and threw away the three little Quinns' old clothes. She knelt down and gathered up the Superman underwear which had somehow been spread throughout the entire room, and put it back in the shopping bag. Then she looked through Nick's outgrown clothes, picking out things she thought would fit the twins and putting them into the shopping bag too. Hiding the lightsabers in the closet, she stashed the bag in the master bedroom and went back downstairs. Jack had come back in and was crammed onto the couch with the little kids. Nick was in his lap, thankfully already looking sleepy, and one of the twins was cuddled up into his side. Elsie was sitting cross-legged and had the other twin cuddled up with her.

"Any room for me?" she asked, grinning at them. Elsie scooted closer to Jack, squishing her brothers against each other, but giving Sam room to sit next to her. Sam sat down and the twin that had been cuddling with Elsie crawled over his sister to sit in Sam's lap. Elsie linked her arm through Sam's and snuggled into her as well.

"Hey, Elsie," Sam whispered, leaning over. "Which twin am I holding?"

Elsie giggled. "That's Joseph," she said.

"How can you tell?"

"I just can. But Daddy always tells people that Kaden has a little scar on his nose from running into a table, and Joseph has a scar on his foot from stepping on broken glass," the little girl explained.

Sam nodded, amused. "Thanks."

By the time the movie was over, Nick was out, as were the twins, and Sam and Elsie were almost there. Jack shifted Kaden down to the couch as he stood with Nick in his arms. Sam got up slowly from her cozy spot and followed him with Joseph. She put him in the guest bedroom, hoping it would work for all three of their guests to be in the same bed all night.

As she came out of the room she met Jack in the hallway and thought of something. "Oh no," she whispered. "None of them went potty before zonking."

Jack winced. "Well, they didn't really drink anything with dinner, so maybe they'll be okay. I'm not waking any of them up now."

Sam sighed, certain that at least one of the four of them was going to end up wetting the bed.

They went back downstairs and Jack picked up a sleepy Elsie while Sam got Kaden. They tucked them in, and Sam told Elsie that the door would be open a crack and they were in the next room over so they could call if they needed anything. Elsie nodded, her eyes mostly closed, and snuggled in with her brothers.

Sam went to the master bedroom where Jack was already getting into the sweatpants and t-shirt he slept in. She stole a pair of sweatpants from his drawer, feeling the need to be comfortable and exchanged her shirt for an old tank top. Jack followed her into the bathroom and they took turns using the toilet and brushing their teeth. Then, finally, they sank into bed, Sam cuddling up to Jack.

"What a day," she mumbled into his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her. "No kidding. You sure you're going to be okay tomorrow?"

"Yeah, if I need to, I'll call Sarah."

"I love you."

"Love you too, sir."

Then they both fell into an exhausted sleep.


	7. Crazy Morning

A/N: The next chapter will have lots of action, I promise! ;)

* * *

Sam awoke with a start as three little pairs of bare feet hurtled down the hall outside. Sighing, she rolled over and looked at the clock. It wasn't even six yet!

She rolled out of bed and found Jack in the bathroom shaving. "Good morning," he said with a grin.

Sam just looked at him and squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush. "What are the kids up to?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"Elsie is being a good child and reading something on the couch, and the boys are being insane and running around breaking things," Jack answered, still grinning.

Sam looked at him sharply. "Did they break anything important?"

"Not yet. They just knocked a couple of pictures off the walls. They didn't even break."

Just then they heard a crash, and someone started crying. Sam spat out the toothpaste and raced into the hall, Jack close behind. One of the twins had run into the door frame of Nick's room and he was sitting on the floor crying. The other two boys were hovering around him, trying to comfort him. Sam crouched down next to the little boy and looked for the scar on his nose. Nope, no scar, this must be Joseph.

"C'mere, Joseph," she said gathering him into her arms. "What happened, Nicky?"

"We were just wunning from the Goa'uld and he wasn't wooking where he was goin' and . . . BAM! Wight inta the wall!"

Sam chuckled as Nick clapped his hands together as he shouted "bam" for emphasis. "How about no more running, okay? Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast."

Joseph had already calmed down, and Elsie came up the stairs to see what all the commotion was about. The boys began bouncing down the stairs on their rear-ends, nearly running poor Elsie over. Sam popped into her room and donned a sweatshirt and followed them down to the kitchen while Jack finished shaving.

"All right," Sam said helping the boys up into their chairs. "What does everybody want for breakfast?"

"Wucky Charms! Wucky Charms!" Nick cried, bouncing around in his seat.

"Nick, how about we practice our quiet voice today. Be like Kaden and Joseph." The twins still hadn't said a single word since shouting "Daddy" as they were reunited with Jonas. "And Lucky Charms are just for Saturdays remember? I don't think anyone needs that much sugar right now."

"Mommy, that's not fair! The cousins wanna try Wucky Charms! They've never even _had_ 'em before!" Nick cried, standing up on his chair.

"Nickolas, sit down right now and use your quiet voice or you can go sit in The Chair," Sam said, folding her arms.

Nick slumped back into his chair and rested his chin on the table, pouting.

Sam turned to Elsie. "What do you guys usually have for breakfast?"

Elsie shrugged. "Sometimes we get bread."

"You want some toast?" Sam asked getting out the loaf of bread.

"What's toast?" Elsie asked, looking suspiciously at the packaged bread.

Sam felt the now familiar twinge of sadness as she caught a glimpse into the three children's previous life. "Here, I'll make Nick some so you can see, and then you can tell me if you want some, okay?"

"Okay," Elsie said, watching as Sam put the bread in the toaster.

"Do you want peanut butter, Nicky?" Sam asked.

"Yeah! Cwunchy pwease, Mommy," he said lifting his chin from the table.

"Good job on being polite, Nicky," Sam said, turning to smile at him while getting the peanut butter out.

Jack came down the stairs then, already dressed in his BDUs. He came over and kissed Sam and grabbed a granola bar out of the cupboard to eat on the way to the base. "You sure you're going to be okay? I'll try and be back soon," he said as Sam spread peanut butter on Nick's toast.

"Yeah, we'll be okay. I'll probably take them to the p-a-r-k and let them run off some energy."

"Sounds good," he said, kissing her again. "I'll see you in a bit." He went over to Nick and kissed the top of his head as Sam handed him his toast. "See you later, little buddy."

"Bye, Daddy," Nick said starting in on the toast.

"Bye, guys," Jack said, waving to the Quinns.

The twins waved back and Elsie said, "Bye, Jack!"

As she heard the front door close, Sam began to feel a little panicked. Getting them all dressed was going to take all morning and how was she going to take a shower? Swallowing her sudden nervousness, she turned back to Elsie.

"So, do you want to try the toast? Nick, give everyone a bite so they can see if they want some."

Nick obligingly ripped off three chunks of toast, getting peanut butter everywhere, and handed them to his "cousins."

The twins popped the toast in their mouth and then nodded at Sam, sucking the peanut butter off their fingers. "We like that, Sam," Elsie confirmed, licking her own fingers.

Sam smiled and put two more pieces of toast in the toaster, and started a cup of coffee for herself. "Everybody want milk to drink?"

"You have milk?" Elsie asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Yeah," Sam said pulling it out of the fridge. "Do you like milk?"

"Uh-huh," Elsie said her mouth sticky with the peanut butter. Sam got out sippy cups for the boys and a small plastic cup for Elsie and poured them all milk. Elsie gulped hers down.

"Wow," said Sam, sitting down at the table with her coffee and toast. "You guys _really _like milk, huh."

Elsie wiped off her milk mustache with the back of her hand and nodded. "Sometimes they gave it to us at the shelter as a special treat, but it wasn't even cold!"

Sam looked down into her coffee, not wanting them to see her eyes fill with tears. To be so excited about a cold glass of milk was something she couldn't even really imagine.

"Mommy?" Nick said, patting her arm.

She looked up at him, blinking the tears away. "What, buddy?"

"What are we gonna do today?"

"Hmmm . . ." Sam said pretending to be lost in thought. "We could go to the dentist." Nick protested in horror. "Or the doctor for some shots . . ."

"Mommy, no!" Nick cried, grabbing her arm desperately.

She laughed. "I'm just kidding, big guy. I think we're actually going to go to the park after everyone's dressed."

Nick leaped off his chair and into her lap. "Yay!"

Sam caught him with an "ooph," managing to get her coffee out of range just in time.

"What's a park?" Elsie asked, hopping down and coming over to Sam.

Nick beat her to the explanation. "It's awesome! There's swings and this huge swide and the cool cwimbing thing and the swirly tunnel swide and the teeter-totter and there's even a sandbox and ice cweam and _everything!_"

Elsie looked understandably confused, but the twins were starting to climb up onto the table and Sam was forestalled in her explanation.

"Whoa, guys! No little kids on the table!" Sam said putting Nick down and grabbing the boys before they could spill their milk or her coffee. "Everybody done with breakfast?" she asked even thought she knew it was useless. They were all too excited to eat anything else at this point. She stuffed the rest of her toast in her mouth and took another swallow of coffee. "Let's go get dressed then."

Nick let out an exuberant cry and tore up the stairs, the twins close behind him. By the time Sam and Elsie got upstairs, all three little boys were taking out _all _of Nick's clothes from his dresser.

"Guys!" Sam cried in exasperation. "Stop that!" They turned toward her guiltily. "Nick, can you be a big boy and get dressed all by yourself?"

Nick nodded, plopping a pair of shorts on his head with a grin. Sam rolled her eyes heavenward and chose not to comment. That kid was _way_ too much like his dad sometimes.

She let go of Elsie's hand to grab hold of the twins and took the three Quinns into the guest bedroom. She grabbed the bag she had stuffed their clothes in from her room and picked out some shorts and t-shirts for the twins. As she started dressing them, she handed the bag to Elsie and told her she could pick out whatever she wanted to wear.

"Hold still Kaden!" Sam said as she managed to get both his legs in the same pant leg again. "Okay," she said, finally releasing the squirmy little boy and swatting his rear gently. Kaden giggled and ran toward the door, daring her to chase him. "Nice try, mister," she said with a grin.

She grabbed Joseph as he tried to run by and swung him into her lap. He squealed and tried to squirm away, but she tickled him until he was too limp from giggling to get away. She shoved a little green t-shirt with a tractor on it over his head and his legs into shorts. When she let him go, he raced to join his twin who was still giggling in the doorway. Jumping up with a mock growl, Sam chased the squealing boys back into Nick's room.

Miraculously, Nick had followed instructions and gotten himself dressed, but he was still wearing a pair of shorts on his head and jumping on the bed again. Sam chased the twins over to the bed and grabbed Nick and put him on the floor.

"C'mon, Nick, you know the rules. Remember when you fell off and hit your head on the dresser? No more jumping on the bed!" Nick tried to pout which was amusing because the pair of shorts were slipping over his eyes. "You guys play in here for a minute, I'm going to go check on Elsie."

She went into the master bedroom and found Elsie standing in front of the mirror on the bathroom door admiring her new clothes. She was wearing one of the new sun dresses with a little white blouse underneath, and she looked adorable. She was spinning slowly in front of the mirror, craning her neck so she never had to stop looking in the mirror. When Sam appeared in the reflection, she ducked her head and ran her hands over the front of the pale pink dress self-consciously.

Sam knelt down in front of her. "You look beautiful, honey!".

Elsie raised her head and looked into Sam's eyes. _She has Jonas' eyes,_ Sam thought. Elsie smiled a little. "Thank you, Sam. And thank you for buying me new clothes."

"You're very welcome, sweetheart." A crash came from the next room and Sam winced. "Do you think you can teach those boys how to be as quiet and polite as you?"

Elsie giggled and followed Sam back into Nick's room. The boys had found the lightsabers again, and Nick was on the bed again, defending his "mountain" from the twins. They were all laughing, which thankfully impeded their accuracy.

"Okay, okay!" Sam shouted over the noise. She confiscated the lightsabers with practiced efficiency and hauled Nick off the bed again. "Nicky! If I see you on the bed again, you're going to sit in The Chair for _ten_ whole minutes!"

Nick hugged her around the knees. "I sorry, Mommy."

She ruffled his hair. "Just don't do it anymore okay? All right, we need to find shoes for everybody." Elsie had already found the little sandals Sam had bought her and even figured out how to get all the Velcro in the right places. "Nicky, go downstairs and look by the door for your shoes. C'mere Kaden and Joseph, we'll find you some in here."

Nicky bounced down the stairs, singing the ABCs at the top of his lungs. Sam got the "Summer 2014" box back down from the closet and managed to dig up a pair of sandals and a pair of sneakers that fit the twins. She plopped Joseph into her lap and got the sandals on his feet. He decided he liked them and started jumping up and down, watching the shoes and wiggling his toes.

She smiled at his enthusiasm and grabbed Kaden and put the tennis shoes on him, feeling the toe to make sure it wasn't too small. Kaden was equally infatuated with his shoes and soon both little boys were hopping circles around each other.

"Okay," Sam said, remembering she still had to get dressed herself. "Let's go downstairs and watch some cartoons for a minute."

She led them out into the hallway and Elsie took her hand. "What's cartoons, Sam?" she asked.

"Remember when you watched 'Oz' last night? Cartoons are like that," Sam explained, deciding she really liked Elsie's habit of taking her hand. Her curiosity and unabashed questions also reminded her of Jonas, which made her think of Jack. She hoped they were both okay.

Elsie nodded with her explanation as they went down the stairs, the twins bumping down after them.

"Nicky!" Sam called looking toward the door. "Your shoes are right here! Where'd you go?"

Nick clomped in from the kitchen, his feet in Jack's tennis shoes. "These are my shoes Mommy!"

"I don't think so, buddy," Sam said, trying not to giggle. "Put your real shoes on and you guys can watch some TV for a while."

Nick shed the huge shoes and raced to collect his own before Sam could tell him to put Jack's shoes back.

Sighing, she walked over to the TV, Elsie still holding her hand, and turned on the TV. The twins plopped down right in front of the TV, clearly recalling the "magical" device from last night. Sam let go of Elsie's hand and grabbed the back of the boys' shirts, dragging them back a couple of feet so they weren't so close to the TV. They looked up at her, giggling about being moved in such a manner. Elsie had already situated herself in the corner of the couch and was watching so intently that Sam wondered if she was trying to figure out how the TV worked instead of watching the cartoon.

Nick came running in with only one sandal on when he heard the noise of the TV. "Mommy, you were 'posed to wait for me!"

"It's okay Nicky, hurry and go get your other shoe on!"

He pouted but raced off to get his other sandal. Making sure the Quinns were situated comfortably and knowing Nick would soon join them, she started to head upstairs to get dressed. Seeing Jack's shoes still in the doorway of the kitchen, she picked them up and took them to the front door, passing Nick on the way.

"Hi Mommy!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran into the living room.

She chuckled and dropped the tennis shoes by the door. Looking back toward the kitchen, she noticed the toast plates and milk cups still scattered across the table. She sighed again and dumped the dishes into the dishwasher that was still full of dirty dishes from the day before. She ran it and wiped the table clean of crumbs and peanut butter. Then, checking on the kids one more time, she went up to her room.

After the flurry and noise of the morning, the sudden quiet of the bedroom felt nice. She briefly considered trying to take a shower, but really didn't want to leave the four of them alone for too long. She settled with washing her face and putting a little make-up on. She got dressed, listening for sounds of the kids breaking anything.

Going back downstairs, she was relieved to find all the little ones still watching cartoons, though the twins had scooted close to the screen again. "All right, guys, who's ready to go to the park?"


	8. Disaster on Kelowna

When Jack arrived at the SGC that morning, he found it much the same as when he left. There was another batch of refugees and injured to bring through the gate from the round of bombings that had happened just before they'd brought the kids through. Jack felt a little guilty for not being here more the day before to help. When he arrived at the gate room, he caught sight of Daniel who looked like he'd been there all night.

"Geez, Daniel, you look horrible," he commented lightly.

"Thanks, Jack," Daniel said with a look as he helped an injured woman down the ramp and onto a gurney.

Jack watched other SG teams bringing people through, and began to feel a little hopeless about the situation. "How many people do we still have?"

Daniel sighed, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "I think we're getting close. The bomb went off right next to one of the shelters. They haven't got a good count yet, but they're estimating that at least sixty people were killed, and we've got another twenty or so here that probably won't make it much longer. We're just bringing back the most critical; we're running out of room to put them."

"They're all idiots. They're free from the Ori, why can't they just get their act together and save their stupid planet?" Jack said angrily.

Daniel shrugged. "I talked to Jonas a bit this morning and he says they're working on setting up some kind of conference that will hopefully at least stop the bombings. He asked me and a couple diplomats to act as a neutral party."

"When?"

"He doesn't know yet. He's still working on contacting all the other leaders."

"What exactly is Jonas anyway?"

Daniel shrugged again. "I don't know if he even knows. He's pretty much the only one capable or willing to make big decisions right now, but the whole thing is in danger of collapsing into anarchy." He shook his head. "He hates it, too. He's the only one with any kind of sense on the entire planet, and he can't get them to listen."

Jack clenched his jaw. "Well, he's got three kids that need him so let's help him wrap this crap up, huh?"

"Yeah. How're they doing by the way?"

"Not too bad. It seems like they're pretty used to being carted off to stay with other people so they adjusted fast but . . ." he trailed off, getting angrier. "I'm about ready to tell Jonas to give up on those idiots and just live here with his kids."

"He won't do that, you know."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, I know."

SG-12 and SG-8 were starting up the ramp to relieve SG-7 and SG-5, and Daniel and Jack followed them through the gate. They were greeted again with the sight of the old warehouse-turned-shelter full of dirty, lost, tired people.

"You know where Jonas is now?" he asked Daniel as they picked their way through the crowd.

"He wanted me to meet him over at the makeshift meeting room in the other building in about ten minutes from now. He's hoping he'll have more information on the conference, and maybe even a time set up."

Jack nodded. "I've gotta tell him how his kids are doing. I promised Sam I wouldn't leave her with four kids all day long, so I can't stay. We just thought he'd want to know they're okay."

Daniel nodded, thinking of his own two children. "That's probably a good idea."

Jack followed Daniel through the crowd to the abandoned school house they had found Jonas in before. They looked around for Jonas, not seeing him yet. Just as Daniel was about to ask someone if they'd seen him, the door opened behind him and Jonas walked in, flanked by two marines.

"Jack! Daniel!" he said, striding towards them.

Jack felt that something was off . . . oh yeah, no "Jonas smile" from the man himself. He looked haggard and much older than he should.

"Jonas, when was the last time you slept?" he asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Jonas shook his head. "Doesn't matter. How are Elsie and the boys? Are they staying at the SGC?"

Jack looked at him for a moment before answering. "They're doing really good. Me and Sam took them home."

Jonas pondered that for a moment. "You and Sam . . . took them to your home? As in, you and Sam's home?"

Jack grinned a little boyishly. "Yup. We finally tied the knot. Our little boy is just a year older than your twins."

Jonas looked at him in shock. "That's . . . that's great! Congratulations!"

"Thanks." The grin dropped from Jack's face and his voice took on a serious tone. "I have an idea for you Jonas, why don't you just bag this stupid planet and come live on Earth with your kids?"

"Jack, you know I can't do that. I'm the only one that can make things better here. A lot more people would get killed if I leave now."

"I know. I just thought I'd run it past you."

"Speaking of that," Daniel said stepping forward. "Any news on the peace conference?"

"Everyone's agreed so far except for the most radical group, the one that instigated the bombings. I think that if I can get everyone else to unite, we can take them out. They're not that big of a group, they're just very good at getting their point across. I've tentatively set up the conference for three days from now. I was actually wondering if we could meet at the SGC. You know, provide some neutral territory."

Daniel bit his lip. "You know we want to help however we can Jonas, but I don't know if bringing the leaders of some highly unstable groups to the SGC is such a good idea. I'll talk to General Landry of course, but I can't promise anything."

Jonas nodded. "That's what I expected. If we can't go to the SGC, I'd like to request some marines to help keep things under control and help prevent bomb threats."

Jack nodded. "I'm sure we can help you there. Just let us know how many men you want."

"Thanks Jack," he said. "Daniel, is it still all right that you attend and act as a mediator?"

"Of course."

"Well, I've got a whole lot of things to get done before the conference, so if you'll excuse me. And Jack, please, tell the kids I love them and I'll see them soon?" Jonas said, already starting to walk away.

"They know Jonas, don't worry," Jack called after him. He exchanged glances with Daniel. "He doesn't deserve all this. And what's with the marines following him around?"

Daniel frowned. "That radical group he was talking about? They've already tried to assassinate him four times."

"What?" Jack exclaimed. "All I can say is this better be over soon or I'm taking Jonas back to Earth and blowing up the 'gate here."

Daniel didn't protest at his callousness as Jack had expected. "I'm losing my patience too," was all he said.

Jack kicked at the dusty road as they walked back out of the building. "I guess I'd better get back to Sam and the kids. You should probably take a break yourself, you know."

Daniel shook his head. "I'm going back to the SGC to help out for a while."

Jack clapped a hand on his shoulder and opened his mouth to say something when they heard an explosion. They dropped to the ground as the shock wave hurtled toward them. Dust obscured most of their vision as they slowly got to their feet.

Jack swore. "That came from the warehouse!"

Daniel looked at him. "You think they got the Stargate?"

Jack started running forward before realizing that he couldn't see anything. Forced to go slower, he felt his way among the rubble now covering the streets, following the screaming that had started up. People showed up like ghosts in the dusty air, some of them trying to get to the warehouse to help, some of them trying to run away.

"Jonas!" Daniel cried. Jack started calling for his friend too.

"Over here!" they heard Jonas shouting for them up ahead.

"Keep talking Jonas, we'll find you!" Daniel yelled as the screams of the wounded and terrified increased in volume.

They practically stumbled over Jonas. He was sitting on a fallen crossbeam in the street outside the warehouse. He was holding his arm against his side and they couldn't tell if it was broken or otherwise injured. "It collapsed," he said, his eyes glazed over in shock. "The whole building. There were hundreds of people in there and it just collapsed on top of them all."

Daniel crouched down in front of him. "Are you hurt?"

Jonas leapt up, anger suddenly clouding his face. "It doesn't _matter _whether I'm hurt or not! What matters is that there are hundreds of people dead because some idiots decided it would be a good idea to set off a bomb right in the middle of a crowd of innocent citizens! There were kids in there! Little tiny kids!"

Jack grabbed his shoulders roughly. "Jonas! Stop it! Your people need you and we need you to help us figure out what happened. A lot of our people were in there too, okay?"

Jonas grimaced. "I can't do it, Jack," he said barely audibly. "I'm just a scientist."

Jack shook his head. "No Jonas, you're a soldier, a leader, and most importantly a father. Now c'mon and help us get through this mess."

Jonas straitened up, but his shoulders still hung in exhaustion and desperation. "Let's go see what we can do."

The three of them began calling as many people as possible to them, soon gathering a large group still able to walk, those not seriously hurt, just terrified. As the dust slowly settled around them, Jack organized them into search parties so they could effectively comb the area for survivors. Jonas told him of a big open square that would make a good triage center for the time being and they told everyone to get the wounded there.

They reached the rubble of the actual building and looked at it with dismay. It was impossible to ascertain the extent of the damage because the dust and smoke was still thick, but they began digging through the rubble, calling for survivors. Jack was desperately hoping that the part of the building housing the lost children would be intact, but he soon realized it was unlikely.

Daniel and Jack were carrying an unconscious man between them to the triage center when Daniel spoke up. "Is Sam going to be okay? Looks like it might be a while before you get back."

Jack grimaced. She'd be worried when he didn't come back soon and there would probably be no way to communicate anything to the base for a while. _And_ she had to take care of all those kids by herself. "I don't know," he admitted. "How about Vala?"

"She'll be worried I'm sure, but at least she only has Ethan and Sophie to take care of. What's Sam going to do with all those kids?"

"She's had to deal with tougher stuff before. There's a girl that babysits for us that can help her if she really needs it."

Then they saved their breath for the difficult work ahead of them.


	9. The Park

Kind of a long wait on this one, but here it is anyway: ice cream, tears, and drama. :)

* * *

By the time Sam and the kids arrived at the park, Nicky was going crazy in his booster seat, which meant the twins were too, and even Elsie had a big grin on her face as Sam parked the car. She unbuckled them all, feeling bad that she didn't have car seats for the twins and resolving to get some as soon as possible. As she got them out of the car, she held Joseph on her hip and took Nick's hand.

"Elsie, can you hang on to Kaden's hand?" Elsie took her little brother's hand and they all made their way over to the playground.

It was Thursday, and still fairly early in the morning so there weren't many kids on the playground. Sam was relieved. It made it a lot easier to keep track of her own charges and there was going to be a lot to keep track of today.

Nick was trying to pull his hand away and run over to the swings. She let him go which made Joseph squirm to get down, pointing his finger after Nick emphatically. She absently kissed his cheek before putting him down.

"It's okay Elsie, you can let him go," Sam said, noticing that Kaden was struggling against his sister. She let go of his hand and ran after the boys. Sam helped the boys into the little kid swings they couldn't fall out of and gave them all a big push, then helped Elsie into a big kid swing, telling her to hang on tight.

The swings kept them all happily occupied for a few minutes before Nick decided he wanted to show his cousins the "twirly slide." Kaden managed to go down head first, shooting out the bottom and landing face-first into the wood shavings that coated the area. He cried, more scared than hurt, but was soon pointing back to Nick and Joseph who were waving from the top of the slide. They boys seemed to be having a contest to see who could find the most dangerous way to get down the slide, and Sam took to standing next to the bottom and attempting to catch them before they could crash to the ground.

Elsie explored the park thoroughly and seemed to find the sandbox the most interesting. She was happily making complex little rivulets and towers in the sand.

The boys eventually resorted to chasing each other around, and when Nick fell on the sidewalk, scraping his knees and hands pretty good, Sam decided to call the park done. She brushed a crying Nick off, calling the other kids to her.

"Do you want to go get some ice cream, Nicky?"

He sniffed and nodded. "Can I get chocolate?"

She smiled and kissed the top of his head. "Yep! We should help Elsie and Kaden and Joseph decide what the good flavors are too, huh." She smiled at the Quinns who didn't know what ice cream was of course, but looked eager to try it.

There was a little ice cream shop conveniently located right next to the park, and they walked over, Sam carrying Nick who was still a little upset. Sam held up each kid so they could see into the ice cream case and let them choose which kind they wanted.

The girl behind the counter smiled as she handed Sam the little bowls of ice cream. "Are they all yours?" she asked.

"No, just the little blond one is mine. The other three are my niece and nephews," Sam said, smiling back.

"Well, they're adorable," the girl said, chuckling at the twins who had somehow gotten into a game of sticking their fingers in each other's ears.

"Thanks," Sam said, taking the ice cream and herding them all to a table. They sat down and the Quinns dug into the ice cream without hesitation, Elsie declaring that it was the best thing on Earth. Sam laughed out loud at this comment, knowing Elsie had a slightly different perspective than most people who use the phrase do.

They ate their ice cream, all of them managing to get it all over their faces and shirts, and Sam wished she had thought to bring a camera. She would've loved to show this to Jonas and Jack. She suddenly remembered that she had forgotten her cell phone in the craziness of getting all the kids into the car. She usually kept it on her at all times, especially if Jack was off-world. Suddenly eager to get back home, she grabbed a fistful of napkins and wiped off their sticky faces and hands as best as she could.

She bundled them all back into the car, with many protests from Nick, and started home. As she pulled onto their street, she saw Daniel and Vala's car in the the driveway. Her stomach sank. Had something happened to Jack or Daniel? She cursed herself for forgetting her phone as she parked the car behind her friends'. As she got out of the car, Vala came running out of the house, and from the look on her face, the news was not good. She grabbed Sam in a tight hug.

"Sam! Are you all right? Why didn't you answer your phone?" Vala cried.

"I'm sorry, we went to the park and I forgot it. What's the matter Vala? What happened?"

Vala looked down for a moment. "Maybe you'd better talk to the general. I'll get the kids in the house."

Now Sam knew it was bad. She ran inside, waving a quick hello to Ethan and Sophie who were just inside the door. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, pressing the speed dial to the general's desk.

He answered.

"General? This is Sam, what's going on?" she said quickly.

"Colonel Carter! Thank goodness, we've been trying to get a hold of you. There's a problem here that involves your husband." Sam sank slowly into a chair, waiting silently for the news. "About an hour ago, as we were just about to close up the gate after bringing the last group of injured Kelownans through, there was an explosion. Something must have gone off right next to the gate on the other side, something big enough to damage or obscure the gate because we can't dial back there anymore. We haven't had any communication with the planet."

Sam felt the news wash over her, but it failed to sink in. Jack must have been somewhere else, right? He would find a way to contact her soon and tell her that he and Daniel and Jonas were all okay.

"Colonel?"

Sam shook her head, trying to clear it. "Yes sir, thank you for telling me."

"We'll keep you posted, Colonel. Now you'll have to excuse me. I've got a lot of work to do."

"Of course sir," she said quickly. "Goodbye sir." She hung up the phone, feeling numb, and looked up to see Vala standing in the doorway.

"I turned the TV on for the kids," the black haired woman said softly, coming to sit next to Sam. "Do they know anything else yet?"

Sam shook her head. "I'm sure they're fine."

Vala nodded, and neither of them dared look at each other or speak lest they start crying.

"I better go get some lunch for the kids," Sam said, standing up and trying to mask how terrified she was for her husband and friends.

"I'll help," Vala said, standing and following her into the living room. Sam smiled at the sight of the group of kids in the living room. The twins were sitting cross-legged right in front of the TV as usual, and Elsie was curled up in her corner of the couch, little Sophie next to her. Ethan was sitting at the other end, looking bored with the cartoon, and Nick was next to him. He absolutely adored Ethan, even though Ethan got annoyed with him, being four years older.

Ethan saw them come down the stairs and came over to them, Nick following him like a puppy. "Do they know anything about Dad yet?" he asked, the fear and concern evident, though he had tried to ask casually.

Vala shook her head, blinking rapidly.

"When's Daddy coming back?" Nick asked, picking up that something was wrong and it involved his uncle Daniel, and probably his own Daddy too.

"I don't know, baby," Sam said, desperately trying to hide her fear so as not to scare the little four-year-old. "It might be a little while though."

He nodded. "He's okay," he said with certainty. Then he turned around and trotted back to the couch.

"Go keep an eye on the little ones, honey," Vala told Ethan, pushing his hair off his forehead.

He looked at her for a long moment before shrugging and turning back to the living room.

Sam and Vala went into the kitchen to start getting lunch for the rather alarming amount of children in the house. "Ethan and Sophie like grilled cheese, right?" Sam asked.

"Yep, they love it!" Vala replied a little too cheerfully. "What do Jonas' kids eat?"

Sam shrugged, getting out the cheese. "Pretty much everything so far. I don't think they've ever had much good food to eat in their lives so they're not picky."

"That'd be nice," Vala said rolling her eyes and handing Sam the bread. "I can't get Sophie to

eat _anything._"

Sam smiled. "Nick will eat anything with cheese or sugar. When he was two I found him eating cheese whiz right out of the jar."

Vala wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, that's horrible."

They fell into silence as they cut up the cheese for the sandwiches. The air grew heavy with the unspoken worry for the men.

Suddenly, Vala slammed a cupboard shut and slapped her hand on the counter. "I should have been with him!" she said angrily.

Sam put down the cheese and went to stand next to her, putting a comforting hand on her back. "I've been thinking the same thing. Maybe there was something I could have done . . ."

"It's just the not knowing," Vala said, turning to face Sam. "They could be terribly hurt or perfectly fine or . . ." she broke off, unwilling to say that they might have been killed.

Sam looked down, biting her lip and blinking back sudden tears. "I'm sure they're fine, Vala. They're always fine."

They smiled at each other tearfully, remembering the many scrapes they had all made it out of. Then Vala looked over Sam's shoulder and hastily wiped her eyes, forcing a smile. Sam turned and saw Ethan standing in the kitchen doorway. He looked a lot like Daniel, standing there with his eyebrows drawn together in the same way Daniel's were when he was worried or thinking really hard.

"Mom?" he said, his voice wavering just a tiny bit.

Vala stepped around Sam and held out her arms to him. "Come here, honey," she said, her voice breaking.

He ran the couple of steps to her and they held each other tightly for a minute. Then Sam looked past them and found that all the other little ones had sensed something and were crowding into the doorway, their normally boisterous attitude subdued. Four-year-old Sophie ran forward to her mother and brother, and Vala included her in the embrace. Sam could see the confusion and fear on Nick's face, and went and knelt down in front of him and the Quinns.

"There was an accident on Kelowna, and Daddy, Uncle Daniel, and Elsie and Kaden and Joseph's daddy can't get home, and they might be hurt so that's why we're sad," she explained.

Nick's lip started to tremble. "I want Daddy."

"I know baby, me too," Sam said, gathering him into her arms.

The twins, even though Sam could tell they weren't sure what was going on, started to cry too, and Sam gathered the Quinns into her hug awkwardly, trying to comfort them all.

Sensing a need for a distraction for _all _of them, Sam pulled back a little from the children. "Hey Nicky, why don't you show everyone your new box of crayons Grandpa Hammond gave you?"

Nick brightened up and ran over to one of the bottom drawers and pulling out the huge new box of crayons. It was one of the ones with 120 different colors and a built in sharpener and Nick adored it.

The Quinns looked at the box curiously, and Sophie looked up too.

"Look!" said Nick, getting out a sheet of paper from the same drawer and scribbled on it furiously to show his "cousins" how to do it.

"Okay Nicky, let's have everyone sit at the table and color for a while." Sam got out a stack of paper while Nick carried his precious crayons to the table. Vala helped her get everyone seated, and even Ethan sat down and started drawing. Sam sighed in relief when they were all quiet and busy and turned back to the cheese.

"Could be a bit of a long day," Vala said softly.

Sam nodded. It certainly could.


	10. Uneasy Night

Daniel, Jack, and Jonas had worked tirelessly for the entire day, even though a flying piece of metal had cut Jonas' arm pretty badly, Jack's knees and back were killing him, and Daniel was running on about three hours of sleep and the two cups of coffee he'd had that morning. As the dust and smoke had settled, they were able to start moving some of the rubble, but it looked like the Stargate was at least buried if not damaged beyond repair. Daniel hadn't talked to Jack about it yet, but it looked like they wouldn't be home for quite a while.

When it finally became too dark to work, the three men went back to the triage center which had been lit by the kerosene street lamps. Most of the people were taken care of, at least as much as possible with their limited resources, and it was still possible that there were other survivors in the rubble of the building, but all that could be done had been, and Jack finally felt like he could rest for a minute. Some of the marines had set up a sort of kitchen and were parceling out military rations to the now even more destitute people. Jack found himself in desperate need of food and water and realized he hadn't eaten anything all day, and neither had Daniel or Jonas. They went over and got some food from the marines, and Jack praised them for their quick thinking in breaking out the MRE's.

"How much more food do we have?" he asked them.

"I'm not sure yet sir, but not much," one of the marines answered.

"There are a couple of storehouses with food in them a mile or so from the city," Jonas added.

Jack nodded, grateful that they wouldn't starve at least, and took his food and sat down with Daniel and Jonas on the steps of a nearby abandoned house. They dug into their food with relish, not even tasting it. Jack felt nowhere near satisfied with the small, watered down meal, but he couldn't very well ask for more; there were a lot of hungry people to feed.

"We should get some rest, kids," he said softly, staring down into his empty MRE packet.

For once, neither of them argued. "There'll probably still be some blankets in the house," Jonas said looking over his shoulder at the front door.

"You should get that arm looked at before we turn in, Jonas," Daniel admonished.

Jonas shook his head wearily. "It's fine."

"At least let me look at it," Daniel said reaching for the makeshift bandage Jonas had hurriedly tied on earlier that day. Jonas let him, sucking in his breath sharply as Daniel pulled the cloth away from the wound.

"Geez Jonas, this is pretty deep. It's probably too late to get it stitched up now but you'd better go over the the medical station and put something on it."

"No, I'm fine!" Jonas protested.

"Jonas!" Jack barked suddenly. "Get your butt over to the med station and get that taken care of! You're no good to anybody if you die of an infection."

Jonas shot a glare at him, which was still a little odd coming from Jonas, but got up and went over to the medical supplies. Daniel went inside the house and found several blankets, though the mattresses had already been drug out to put the wounded on. He handed one to Jack and went silently to the corner of the porch and lay down, falling almost instantly asleep. Jack waited and made sure Jonas got his arm properly taken care of and had come back to sit on the porch before curling up in his own blanket.

"Jack?" Jonas asked softly after a minute.

"Hmm . . ." Jack muttered sleepily.

"What . . . what did the kids do yesterday?"

Jack laid in the dark for a minute, thinking of his own son and how much he wanted to be home right now. "Um, well, they were kinda upset at first, but we sang some songs in the car and that put them right to sleep. They slept for a couple hours and Nick got 'em to try pizza for dinner." He chuckled. "Me and Nick and the boys had a contest to see who could finish their piece first and Joseph won. You got some pretty good eaters. Nick got us all to go out and play in the pool for a while, and then the kids fell asleep watching Wizard of Oz."

There was silence for a long moment. "Jonas?" Jack asked tentatively.

"Thank you Jack," Jonas finally choked out.

Jack sat up and scooted over to sit next to Jonas on the steps. He put an arm around the younger man's shaking shoulders. "It's gonna be okay, Jonas. You'll see 'em again soon, I promise."

Jonas shook his head. "It's not just that. I just . . . they're not happy here. I can't be the father they need, and . . . I've been wondering if I should try and find someone who could take care of them better."

Jack didn't know what to say. He could not even begin to imagine giving Nicky to someone else to take care of. There had been moments when he and Sam had wondered if having a child was the best idea, because they were often so busy that they felt like inadequate parents, but he couldn't imagine being so desperate that he would give him up. Feeling a lump rise in his own throat, he squeezed Jonas' shoulder, saying the only thing he could think of. "They love _you_, Jonas. But me and Sam can take care of them as long as you need us to."

Jonas sniffed loudly, his shoulders shaking harder in the darkness. "I miss them," he said, dropping his head into his hands.

Jack couldn't think of anything that would comfort the broken man sitting next to him, so he just kept his arm around him until Jonas' sobs had subsided. "You okay?" he asked.

Jonas took a deep breath, his whole body shuddering. "Not really. But I think I'm going to get some sleep."

They stood up and went to their respective places on the porch. "Goodnight Jack," Jonas said softly, laying down under his blanket.

"'Night, Jonas."

* * *

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are . . ." Sam sang softly, looking into the four sleepy little pairs of eyes in front of her. Nick hadn't wanted to go to his own room to go to bed, so Sam had tucked all four of them into the guest bedroom, planning on taking Nick back to his room when he was asleep.

Vala was getting Sophie to bed in the downstairs bedroom, and Ethan was getting his bed ready on the couch. Vala couldn't quite bear spending the night at her and Daniel's home, so Sam had cleared out the downstairs bedroom that they used mostly as storage. There were two beds in there, it just had had to have all the boxes cleared out from around it. Actually, Sam was grateful for Vala's presence. She hadn't been looking forward to spending the night alone either.

Looking down and seeing they were all asleep, Sam picked Nick up carefully and tucked the covers back in around the Quinns. Nick snuggled into her shoulder sleepily, and she breathed in the smell of his freshly washed hair. She had piled Nick and the twins in the tub while Vala took Elsie and Sophie to the downstairs bathroom for a bath. Sam had ended up almost wetter than the boys, but had a lot of fun anyway. She kissed Nick's head as she laid him in his own bed and tucked the blankets up around him carefully.

"I love you, Nicky," she whispered, closing the door.

She went into her room and put Jack's sweats and a t-shirt on and brushed her teeth and washed her face before going downstairs to make sure Vala and the kids were settled in.

Ethan was stretched out on the couch, watching something on the History Channel. Vala must've still been in the bedroom with Sophie. Sam sank down on the large chair by the couch.

"What are you watching?" she asked Ethan.

He shrugged. "It's that one about the pyramids and Goa'uld and stuff. Dad's in it a lot."

"Oh yeah, I haven't seen this in forever," Sam said, leaning forward.

When the Stargate program had been revealed to the public, hundreds of TV specials had sprung up and those involved had become instant celebrities. For almost a year, SG-1 and other key figures had had to walk around with an actual guard to keep the press away. Teal'c had spent a lot of time off-world with Rya'c and his family until things had calmed down, and Sam, Jack, Daniel, Vala, and Cam had stayed on base as much as possible. Sophie and Nick and Cam's first child, Cody, had all been born on base in fact.

The History Channel special was one of the few shows that Daniel had agreed to appear on, because he wanted to "make sure they got it right this time." If she remembered right, they were all in it at least briefly.

The program was showing one of the sarcophagus in an ancient pyramid, and then it cut to Daniel talking about what the sarcophagus does and the nature of the Goa'uld.

Sam's mind flashed back nearly eighteen years to when SG-1 had only been a team for a year and a half and Daniel had gotten addicted to the sarcophagus. As unpleasant as the memory was, she had to smile as she pictured his long hair. That was back before they knew what they had gotten into. But as she listened to the on-screen Daniel talk about those long-ago adventures, she realized she wouldn't trade any of it.

She looked over and saw that Vala had come into the living room. She was hugging herself tightly and staring at the screen, her emotions raw on her face. As they watched Daniel, they tried to act as if they were watching just any TV show, but failed miserably. Finally, the screen cut to some more sweeping vistas of Egypt and the narrator resumed speaking. Sam and Ethan shifted in their seats, and Vala came and sat down on the smaller couch, tucking her feet under her. They watched the rest of the show mostly in silence, Sam and Vala and even Ethan to a point, remembering the "old days."

As the credits started to role, Ethan was nearly asleep, and as Sam turned off the TV, Vala got up and pulled up a blanket over him, kissing the top of his head.

"Mo-om," he protested sleepily.

Vala smiled. "Oh, right. Too big for kisses." She kissed him again anyway and turned to look at Sam.

They looked at each other for a minute, both unwilling to go to bed because they knew they wouldn't sleep at all. "General Landry will call with any news, so . . . I guess we should try and get some sleep," Sam said.

Vala nodded. "I suppose we should."

"You going to be okay in that bedroom with Sophie?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Goodnight Vala," Sam said softy, turning to go up the stairs.

"Goodnight."


	11. Bad Day

Jack woke up just as the sky was starting to lighten. He sat up with a soft groan as every muscle in his body protested the hard work he'd done the day before. He looked over and saw that Jonas and Daniel were already up and had gone somewhere, Daniel probably to try and find a cup of coffee, and Jonas was probably already at work again. Sure enough, he spotted Jonas and a marine carrying another wounded man into the triage center. He got up and strode over to Jonas.

"Jonas!"

Jonas looked up as he helped lay the man down on a mattress. "Jack," he said with a nod.

"Have you eaten anything yet? And I'm taking a look at your arm," Jack said, feeling like a stern parent.

"Jack, I'm –"

"Ah!" said Jack holding up a finger. "I don't want to hear it, Jonas! You're coming over with me and getting some food and then we're looking at your arm!"

"Jack –"

"Ah!"

Jonas sighed and reluctantly followed Jack over to the "kitchen" where the marines were preparing more MRE's for breakfast. They caught sight of Daniel who had found some coffee, but by the look on his face, disgusting coffee.

"Daniel!" Jack called, waving him over as he grabbed food for himself and his two friends. Jonas grimaced at the food, and kept looking around as if he couldn't stand eating when there were still people hurt. Jack made him go sit back down on the porch of the house, and Daniel followed, still grimacing into his cup.

"All right, kid, let's look at that arm," Jack said, and Jonas obligingly turned toward him to present his injured arm, trying to eat his meal as fast as possible so Jack would let him get back to work. "Jonas! Fer cryin' out loud! Why didn't you get this stitched up?" Jack exclaimed, pulling off the bandage. Daniel came over to look. The wound ran horizontally across his bicep, and was still seeping blood and now pus. The skin was red and inflamed and it was clearly quite deep and beginning to get dangerously infected.

At Jack's exclamation, Jonas lifted his arm to look at it. "Crap," he muttered, knowing he'd get sick soon if he didn't do something about the cut. He had been feeling feverish all night.

"How have you been carrying people everywhere with that?" Daniel asked, looking at his friend.

Jonas shrugged miserably. "It didn't hurt until I looked at it," he admitted.

Jack shook his head. "Come one, we've got to at least get some antibiotics in you."

When they spoke to the marines that had been in charge of the medical supplies, they found out that almost all of their antibiotics supply had run out, and Jonas refused to take any, saying others needed it more. It appeared they were running out of several medical supplies in fact, as well as food.

"Daniel," he said. "How long do you think it'll take to get a ship here once they realize

somethings wrong?"

"I don't know, a couple days at most probably."

Jack looked around at all the wounded and the exhausted marines and others well enough to help. "If we run out of antibiotics, we're going to have a big problem real soon."

"We can go out to the storehouses today. They're a few miles from the city, but we've tried to keep them secret, as a last reserve," Jonas said, tying a bandage on his arm with his good hand and his teeth.

Jack started to nod, but Daniel caught his eyes flickering back toward the remains of the warehouse. "We need . . ."

"Could be more people in there," Daniel said, standing and looking toward the warehouse himself.

"We can do both," Jonas contributed. "We can go out to the storehouses and everyone else can . . . can look for survivors."

Jack did not fail to notice the dark shadow pass across his friend's face, and admitted to himself that he much preferred getting supplies for the living than digging through a pile of cement only to find corpses. And yet, he hesitated. He had been hoping all day yesterday to find all those lost kids safe under the wreckage, but there had been no sign of them, and now it seemed more important to find supplies to keep the people they had already saved alive. "To the storehouses then."

They organized a team to continue the rescue effort at the warehouse, and Jonas asked a few of his men to accompany them to the storehouses.

Jack noticed that Jonas was extremely pale, and he started panting as they walked briskly out of the city. "Jonas?" he said, a mixture of warning and worry in his voice.

"I'm fine, Jack!" Jonas snapped at him, breathing hard.

Daniel moved to grab his arm to steady him, but Jonas jerked out of the way. The movement overbalanced him and he collapsed to the ground. Daniel tried to grab him but only managed to slow his descent a little. Jack ran and dropped next to his friends, ignoring the pain in his knees.

"Jonas!" he said grabbing the younger man's head. His eyes were glazed over and his skin was hot to the touch. "Damn," Jack muttered. "Why couldn't he have got himself stitched up yesterday?"

He exchanged glances with Daniel. "He's not going to make it long unless we find some antibiotics, Jack."

"I know that, Daniel! C'mon, help me get him back to town." They carried Jonas back into the city, their friend already becoming delusional with the fever. He called out the name of his wife and children several times, thrashing around when they laid him on one of the mattresses at the triage center.

Both Daniel and Jack were reluctant to leave him, but they felt the need to find extra supplies now more than ever. They went as fast as they could, one of the men leading them to the storehouses. As they crested a hill, a horrible sight greeted them. The storehouses appeared to have been gutted and burned.

"No," Daniel said softly, and started running down the hill.

"Daniel!" Jack called after him, fearing a trap. "Get back here!"

But it was too late. As Daniel approached the buildings, another explosion blossomed into the sky. Jack looked into the smoke desperately for his friend. Telling the other men to stay behind the hill in case anything else went off, he started down the hill, choking on the acrid smoke. "Daniel!" he cried over and over. Suddenly, he stumbled over something soft and dropped down under the haze of smoke. It was Daniel. He was unconscious and his clothes were smoking, and burns and shrapnel wounds covered his face. Jack checked him carefully for any other wounds and found that a piece of the supply building's sheet metal roof had punctured Daniel's torso, just under his left ribcage. Jack swore. He didn't want to remove the piece of metal until he had something to stop the bleeding with, and he had to get Daniel out of the smoke. He grabbed his friend under the armpits and dragged him back, calling out for help to get him up the hill.

The men helped carry Daniel back to the city, and Jack had to tell everyone that the extra supplies had been destroyed. When he asked the marines in charge of food and medical supplies, he learned that they would be out of food by the end of the day, and the medical supplies had pretty much all been used up on the injured that had been brought in that morning from the wreckage.

Jack sank down on the ground in between Daniel and Jonas' mattresses and dropped his head into his hands. Everything possible with their limited means had been done for his friends, but they would both be dead very soon without better medical facilities. For that matter, a lot of people would be dead soon if they didn't get help. Jack looked up and squinted into the sun, praying a ship would arrive and take them all back home.


	12. Questions and Eggs

Sam rolled over and looked at the clock. Four thirty-seven. It wasn't even light outside yet. She had the beginnings of a horrible headache, and she knew she needed more sleep, but she just couldn't stop worrying about Jack and Daniel and Jonas. She hadn't heard anything from the base since yesterday afternoon when General Landry had told her they were sending out their biggest ship to try and rescue as many people as possible. Sam was dying to get to the base and see if there was anything she could do. As much as she loved the kids, she felt so frustrated that she couldn't do anything to help get her husband and friends home.

Sighing, she got up and took a quick shower and got dressed Wincing at the pain in her head, she took a couple aspirin and went downstairs to make herself some breakfast. She wasn't too surprised to find Vala already sitting at the table, sipping tea.

"Good morning," she said softy.

Vala looked up. "Couldn't sleep either?"

Sam sighed. "Yeah."

"There's more hot water on the stove if you want some tea," Vala said, taking another sip from hers.

"Thanks," Sam said getting out a mug and pouring hot water into it. She sank down into the chair next to Vala. "What do you want to do with all the munchkins today?"

Vala smiled. "Well, Ethan goes to school at eight-thirty, so we'll have to run home and get a change of clothes. After that I have no idea."

"Oh yeah. For some reason I've been thinking it's Saturday."

"That's because yesterday felt like _two_ days."

Sam smiled back at her friend. "No kidding."

They drank the rest of their tea in comfortable silence. "I'm going to take a shower," Vala said, getting up.

"You can grab something to wear out of my closet," Sam offered.

Vala smiled her thanks and headed upstairs, walking slowly so as not to wake up the kids. Sam got up and picked up the phone, dialing the base. She knew there wasn't anything else to report or the general would've called her, but still. It gave her something to do.

No one answered at the general's desk, so she tried Mitchell's cell. "H'llo?" a sleepy voice mumbled.

"Oh, sorry Cam, did I wake you up?" she said remembering it was only a little after five in the morning.

"Kinda. What's up?"

"I just wondered if you'd heard anything about the situation on Kelowna."

"Nope. I wanted to be part of the rescue team but I was so tired I was delusional and the general made me go home."

Sam chuckled in spite of herself. "I know the feeling. Any idea when the ship is scheduled to reach the planet?"

"Should be early tomorrow morning," he said.

"Okay, thanks. Sorry for waking you up."

"It's okay, Sam. I understand."

Sam felt a lump rising in her throat at her friend's sympathy. "I'll talk to you later," she managed. She hung up the phone and looked at the clock again. Not even five thirty yet. She didn't expect the kids up for another hour, what was she going to do with herself? She couldn't even pick up the living room because Ethan was asleep in there.

Getting an idea suddenly, she crept through the living room and past the other guest bedroom and into the study. She booted up her computer, tapping the desk impatiently. She couldn't do much from here, but she started running a few simulations, trying to figure out exactly what had happened on the other side of the gate. Absorbed in her work, she didn't notice little Sophie come into the room until she spoke.

"What're you doing Aunt Sam?" the four-year-old asked.

Sam jumped a little and glanced at the clock. Six forty-five already? "Oh, um, I'm just doing some work, sweetie. To see if I can help Uncle Jack and your daddy."

"Can I see?" she asked, bouncing over and scrambling into Sam's lap. Sam smiled at the little girl. She had always been especially exuberant and curious, traits passed on from both her parents. Sam ran the simple computer animated simulation of one of the many scenarios that could have happened on Kelowna.

"Whoa!" Sophie exclaimed, clearly missing the connection to her daddy. "Do it again! Do it again!" The little girl bounced in Sam's lap, staring at the screen. Sam ran the simulation several more times for her. Then suddenly . . .

Ignoring Sophie's protests, Sam brought up the programming screen and typed in commands. Watching the simulation run, she realized that if the explosion had happened at the base of the Stargate as the direction of debris flying through the still open wormhole, the gate would have been knocked over and the entire building would have collapsed. She gasped at the implications, thinking of the hundreds of people now buried under the rubble. She could only hope those bodies didn't include her husband and friends. Another thought was nagging at her. Why wouldn't the wormhole establish? Debris blocking the wormhole wasn't usually a deterrent to establishing a lock.

Sophie quickly became bored and scrambled off Sam's lap, blowing her a quick kiss over her shoulder as she left the study. Sam barely saw her. She stared at the screen, certain there must be something . . . some way to get to them sooner than the ship.

"Mommy!"

A sudden shout broke her concentration and she winced, sure that Nick had just woken poor Ethan up, running through the living room and shouting. The little boy skidded into the study, his hair sticking up in all directions from sleep, and his eyes bright.

"Mommy, guess what? I dreamded about Daddy and he came home today!" he practically shouted, climbing into her lap.

"Shh! Nicky there's still people sleeping," she warned him, putting a finger over his mouth.

He grinned. "Not anymore! Ethan woked up when I ran past him!"

Sam sighed, but couldn't help but smile at his exuberance. "You dreamed about Daddy?" she

asked remembering his original purpose in running through the living room.

He nodded excitedly. "Yep! And Uncle Daniel came home too, and we all had a big party and Elsie and Kaden and Joseph moved in wif us and we had _another_ big party and we got out the swimming pool!"

She smiled gently at him. "We'll definitely have to have a big party when Daddy comes home, huh? I don't think Elsie and Kaden and Joseph are going to move in with us though. They have to go back home with _their_ daddy."

Nick thought about it for a minute. "Can we still get out the swimming pool?" he asked seriously.

Sam laughed and tickled him. "Sure thing, buddy. You want some breakfast?"

He hopped off her lap and ran out, singing his own made-up song about "Wucky Charms" at the top of his lungs. She ran after him, trying to shush him, but it was too late. Poor Ethan had buried his head under his pillow. Sophie ran in from the guest bedroom and joined in the song, both of them making up their own words and tunes, making quite a racket.

Sam had to smile at them. Even though Sophie was only a couple of months older than Nick, she had started speaking quite a bit sooner, and while Nicky often had trouble with his "r"s and "l"s, Sophie pronounced everything very distinctly. It wasn't surprising when you considered who Sophie's father was, and besides, Sam loved it when Nick tried to pronounce his full name and it came out more like "Nickawas Cawto O'Neo."

"Nicky! Sophie! Be quiet!" Sam hissed, trying wipe the smile from her face. The two little ones obligingly reduced their song to a loud whisper, still marching around the living room. "Sorry Ethan," Sam said as she herded the two little maestros into the kitchen. Vala was in there already, making scrambled eggs.

She looked at Sam. "What was _that_ all about?" she asked looking at Nick and Sophie with a small smile.

"We're _singing_ Mommy!" Sophie answered, still in a hushed voice. "But we're not supposed to wake Ethan up!"

Vala grinned at her and then looked back at Sam. "Ah, I see."

"Sam?" a small voice came from the bottom of the stairs. Sam looked over to see Elsie, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I'm sorry honey, did we wake you up?" Sam said going to her and stroking her tangled hair.

Elsie yawned. "It's okay."

"Do you like eggs?" Vala asked with a smile, tilting the pan so she could see.

The little girl looked at them for a minute. "What do they taste like?"

"Um . . . well, like eggs I guess. You can try some okay?" Vala said, scooping out a forkful onto a paper plate.

"I want eggs! I want eggs!" Nick shouted, forgetting again that he was supposed to be quiet.

"Nicky! Quiet voice!" Sam said. "And ask nicely, remember?"

Nick looked up at Vala. "May I pwease have some eggs?"

Vala laughed at his serious little face. "Of course, Nick. Why don't you go sit at the table and I'll bring you some."

"Mommy," Sophie asked, tugging on her mom's sleeve. "Can I have syrup on mine?"

"Yuck!" Nick exclaimed as he heard her request. Sophie stuck her tongue out at him.

Vala laughed at Nick's reaction and turned to her daughter. "Ask Aunt Sam to get it out for you while I get your eggs."

The little girl happily bounded over to Sam. "Can I please have some syrup?"

Sam had heard Daniel talk once about how Sophie loved scrambled eggs with maple syrup, so she wasn't too surprised, but still. It just sounded wrong. She got the syrup down from the cupboard for the little girl and told Nick to stop making faces.

Then a sudden cry came from upstairs. Sam headed up quickly, realizing the twins must've woken up without Elsie next to them and been scared. As she entered the room, the little boys quieted and held out their arms to her in an identical gesture. Unsure that she could carry both of them, she sat down on the bed and let them snuggle into her.

"It's okay guys," she soothed gently. "Elsie's just downstairs eating breakfast. You want to come have some?" They nodded, but were still unwilling to let go of her. With a grunt, she stood up, nestling one of the little boys on each hip, and descended the stairs a bit awkwardly. When they saw Elsie, Nick, and Sophie at the table though, they squirmed to get down and rushed to sit next to their sister and "cousins." Sam smiled at them fondly as they sat in their usual spots on either side of Elsie and looked around expectantly. Vala smiled at them too and got more eggs.

"Here," said Sam, getting a package of muffins from the cupboard. "These will be yummy with eggs." She let each of the children pick out what kind they wanted from the assorted box while Vala got everyone sippy cups of orange juice.

"I'd better go get Ethan up," Vala said, putting the cups in front of the kids and heading into the living room. A few minutes later, she guided a very sleepy and grumpy eight-year-old to the table and placed yet another plate of eggs in front of him. Sam thought with a smile that it was very likely Ethan would eventually be just as addicted to coffee as Daniel as neither of them seemed able to function very well in the morning. "Hurry and eat so you're not late for school," Vala said.

Elsie looked over at Sam. "What's school?"

Before Sam could answer, Nick piped up. "_I_ get to go to school next year!"

"Me too!" Sophie added.

"School is where you go to learn all kinds of things," Sam explained to Elsie.

"Can I go to school?" she asked hesitantly.

Sam bit her lip, not wanting to tell her no. "Well, not right now. Maybe later if you stay with us long enough."

Elsie hid her disappointment by digging back into her eggs. Sam felt bad, she couldn't think of a good way to explain to the little girl why she couldn't go to school. "Tell you what," she said. "While Ethan is at school, the rest of us will have our very own school here. How's that sound?"

"Yay!" Nick shouted even though he wasn't quite sure what school entailed.

They all finished breakfast and Vala took Ethan and Sophie home so Ethan could get ready for school and Sophie could get a change of clothes. Vala assured Nicky that they'd probably be back that afternoon, but he was still upset that his cousins were leaving. Eventually the reminder that they would get to play school allowed the Jacksons to leave in peace.


	13. Genius

Sam managed to get Nick, the Quinns, and herself, dressed and ready for the day. She seated the kids at the table and put blank sheets of lined paper in front of them and gave them all a pencil.

"The first thing you do in school is learn how to write your name," she announced. Then she went around the table and wrote each child's name in big, bold letters for them to copy. The twins weren't too interested in copying their names, they just scribbled on the paper, but Nick and Elsie both bent over their paper, writing slowly and carefully. Elsie finished first and held out her paper for Sam to see.

"Good job, Elsie! That's perfect," Sam said looking at the girl's careful reproduction of her name. "Now do you want to learn the alphabet?" Though she clearly wasn't sure what the alphabet was, she nodded eagerly. "The alphabet is what you make words like your name out of," Sam explained as she started drawing out all the letters. "See? There's an 'E', just like what your name starts with." Elsie was delighted with this information, and when Sam had finished writing out the alphabet, Elsie started copying the letters, circling the ones in her name.

"Wook, Mommy, wook! I did it!" Nick said, waving his paper in her face.

"Good job, buddy! Do you want to write the alphabet too? Like Elsie?"

He nodded and watched as she wrote out the letters. As he started to copy them, he began singing the alphabet song to himself.

Sam glanced over to check on the twins and found that their pencils had wandered from the paper. "Uh-oh, don't write on the table, guys," she said going over to them and placing their little hands firmly back on the paper. "Only on paper, okay?" They stuck with the paper for a few minutes but soon found it more interesting to draw on the table again. "On _paper_ guys," Sam said guiding them back to their sheets of paper. "Here, let me show you something." She took Kaden's left hand and placed it flat on his piece of paper. Then she grabbed his other hand, still holding the pencil, and showed him how to trace around his other hand. Both twins were delighted with this, and they were soon tracing their own, and each other's hands over and over. Sam turned back to the other kids and found that Nick had decided tracing his hand was more fun than writing out the alphabet, but Elsie had looked over at the boys' papers and copied Nick, Joseph, and Kaden at the bottom of her paper and circled all the letters of the alphabet each name contained.

"Wow, Elsie, that's really good!" Sam said, leaning over to look at her paper.

The little girl smiled happily down at her paper. "How do you write _your_ name, Sam?"

"Here, let's get another sheet of paper and I'll show you." Sam proceeded to write down several words for Elsie to copy, Sam, Jack, Daddy, cousin, and ice cream among them.

When the boys got tired of tracing their hands, Sam suggested Nick get out his crayons again, and the three of them scribbled away happily while Elsie continued to copy out the words Sam had written for her.

When Elsie finished with the words on her paper, she looked up and asked Sam for more. "I have an idea," Sam said, getting the boys' attention. "Why don't we make cards for the daddies?"

"Yeah!" Nick shouted, his crayon shooting off the paper.

"Nicky, quiet voice. Remember, we're in school." The reminder subdued the little boy, though he still looked at her expectantly, waiting to start on the cards. Sam folded a piece of paper in half. "Here, Nick, draw a picture on here for Daddy and then I'll help you write a message for him inside, okay?" Then she turned to the Quinns. "Do you want to write the message Elsie? And the boys can do the pictures?" Elsie nodded eagerly. "Okay." She handed a blank piece of paper to the twins and they seemed fine with sharing their drawing space, thinking it was great fun to run their crayon into the other one's crayon, like bumper cars. "Okay Elsie, what do you want to write for your daddy?"

Elsie thought for a minute, her little face scrunched up seriously. "We love you Daddy. We hope you get better soon and aren't sad anymore." She looked up at Sam for approval.

"That's great, sweetheart," Sam said with a sad smile. "I'll write it for you so you can copy it onto the card when the boys are done drawing."

As they were finishing the cards, Nick spoke up. "Are we still in school Mommy?"

"Yep, if you want to be," Sam answered.

"Sophie says that in school they have recess and they get to go outside and pway. Are we gonna have recess, Mommy?"

Sam smiled. "Yeah, sure. That sounds like a great idea, buddy. Everyone finish up the cards and we'll go outside."

"Swimming pool?" Nick asked hopefully.

"Nope, no swimming pool right now. You can show your cousins your new football from Daddy though, how about that?"

Nick brightened. "Yeah!" He hurriedly put the finishing touches on his card and jumped up, heading for the back door. The twins followed, but Elsie wasn't quite done copying the words onto the card yet.

"You come meet us outside when you're done, okay Elsie?" Sam said, following the boys outside.

"Okay," Elsie agreed, not looking up from her carefully executed work.

Sam got Nick's football from the garage and tossed it to the boys. Nick tried to explain how to play football to the twins, but as he didn't have a very concrete grasp on the game himself and the twins weren't interested, they ended up running around and kicking and throwing the ball whenever they felt like it. Elsie cam out and sat next to Sam on the porch.

"Did you finish your card?" Sam asked her with a smile.

Elsie nodded, her chin in her hand.

"What's the matter? Do you want to go play with the boys?"

The little girl shook her head and Sam noticed tears pooling in her eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong, kiddo?"

The little girl sniffed and scooted closer to Sam. Sam put an arm around her shoulders and waited for her to say what was bothering her.

"Sam," she finally said, very softly.

"What, honey?"

"I don't want to go back home. I want to see Daddy again but I don't want to go home. I want to stay here with you," she blurted.

"Oh, sweetheart," Sam said, tilting Elsie's face up so she could look in her eyes. "I wish you could stay too. But you belong with your Daddy, and he needs to be on Kelowna to help your people."

Elsie's lip started to tremble and two big tears slid down her face. "I want to stay with you," she insisted.

Sam sighed and drew her into a hug, not knowing what else to say. Elsie sat in Sam's lap, her legs wrapped around Sam's waist and her arms around Sam's neck. She hung on tightly as if she feared if she let go she'd be sent back to Kelowna right that instant.

Sam held onto her, not knowing what she could say to the brave little girl. Just then however, Joseph got whacked right in the nose with the football. Nick, who had thrown it, popped his hands behind his back as Joseph started to cry.

"I didn't mean to!" he cried as Sam gently untangled herself from Elsie and went to comfort little Joseph.

"It's okay, Nick, I know it was an accident. I think recess is over, though," she said picking up the still sniffling Joseph. She herded all the kids inside. Elsie was still subdued, and all of them had apparently lost interest in working at the table. Nick tugged on her pant leg.

"Mommy, can we watch a movie?" he asked.

Sam agreed, thinking of the simulations on the gate she had been working on. If the kids were watching a movie maybe she could work on it some more. She let Nick put in _Monsters vs Aliens_ and went back to the study after making sure the kids were all seated on the couch. She studied the simulation over and over, trying to figure out why a connection couldn't be established. If she was anywhere near right, the explosion and subsequent collapse of the building would have been enough to seriously damage the gate, but not destroy it.

"Mommy, Kaden and Joseph are in the way, I can't see!" Nick whined, coming to stand in the doorway of the study.

Sam heard him but a sudden idea had just come to her and she began typing commands into the simulation. It was very likely that there was some kind of safety protocol built into the gate to prevent dialing if a big enough disaster had happened on the other side.

"Mommy!" Nick cried, stamping his foot.

"Nick, go watch the movie," Sam said, still typing.

"I _can't_!" Nick said stamping his foot again.

"Nicky, I'm really busy, okay?"

"Mommy! Kaden and Joseph are in the way!" he screamed. Sam's already thin patience snapped and she stood up and took his arm, marching him back to the living room. She plopped him roughly back on the couch, and his bottom lip started to quiver. The twins were indeed sitting way too close to the TV again, blocking the view, so she dragged them backwards, and then hurried back into the study, shutting the door. She sat back down at the desk, but her fingers just hovered over the keyboard. She told herself that Nicky was fine and this was more important than the four-year-old at the moment, but she felt too guilty for her impatience with him to concentrate. She stood and opened the door to find the little boy sitting right outside in the hall, his arms wrapped around his knees.

He looked up and she saw the tear streaks on his face. ""M sorry, Mommy," he said.

She knelt down and gathered him into her arms. "I'm sorry too, baby," she whispered hugging him tightly.

"Are you mad?" he asked, pulling back a little.

"No honey, I'm not mad. It's just that I think I found a way to get Daddy home safe and I wanted to work on it," she explained.

"Daddy?" he said hopefully, wiping at his eyes.

"Yeah, that's why I need you to go watch the movie quietly. So I can figure out how to help Daddy, okay?"

He nodded solemnly and gave her another hug. "Okay, Mommy." She kissed him and gave him a gentle push toward the living room, leaving the door open this time.

Feeling better, she sat back down at the computer and began writing a program in her head to override the safety protocols that must be impeding the dialing sequence as she called the SGC.

She got Dr. Lee on the line and began discussing her idea with him, writing the override program at the same time. By the time the kids' movie was winding down, they were ready to test the program, and Sam found herself talking to General Landry.

"Colonel, you're sure that dialing right now is safe? Overriding safety protocols has caused problems in the past," he told her.

Sam took a deep breath and told herself to be patient. "I know, sir, but I think the risks are minimal and there are quite possibly hundreds of injured people that need our help on the other side."

"Including Jack."

She heard the slight challenge in his voice and had to take another deep breath. "Yes, sir. And Daniel, and Jonas, and many more of our people."

"Okay Colonel, I'll call you back in a few minutes."

"Thank you, sir." Sam hung up the phone, praying it would work. She realized that even if they could establish a wormhole, it would still take a while to get through the debris that had probably fallen over the gate, but the unstable vortex when the wormhole opened would help take care of that. She tapped her leg absently and stared at the phone, willing it to ring. It did in just a few moments and she snatched it up.

"General?"

"Colonel O'Neill, it worked. We've established a connection to Kelowna, and we're sending a team in now. It's going to be tricky because the gate was buried in the explosion and we're not sure how close to the surface we are, but we'll stay in touch," the general said.

Sam let out her breath and closed her eyes, her heart pounding. "Thank you, sir. Do you want me to call Vala for you?"

"Good idea, Colonel."

"Thank you again, sir." Sam said before hanging up. She shook a little as she dialed Vala.

"Sam? Is everything okay?" Vala asked, answering immediately.

"Yeah, they finally established a wormhole to Kelowna," Sam said trying to contain both her excitement and fear of what they might find on the other side.

Vala gasped. "They did? What do they know? Did they find them?"

"The gate's buried from the explosion so it could still be a little while before they get through to the surface, but they're working on it."

"How long do you think it will take?" Vala the same worry and excitement filling her voice that Sam felt.

"I don't know, probably at least a couple hours."

"Okay good. Ethan will be home from school by then and we can all go to the base."

"Yeah, I want to be there too, but it's crowded right now and I don't know if the general wants the kids there."

"I don't care, Sam! I'm going as soon as Ethan gets home!"

"Okay, okay. We'll all go together."

She heard Vala sigh and they were both quiet for a minute. Then they both spoke at the same time.

"Do you think . . ."

"I wonder . . ."

"You go first," Sam said after another moment of silence.

"I was just thinking out loud," Vala admitted.

"Me too, kind of," Sam replied.

"Well, I guess I'll see you in a couple hours. Thanks for calling, Samantha."

"No problem, I'll talk to you later."

Sam hung up the phone and looked up at the clock. After one o'clock! The poor kids hadn't even had any lunch yet. Her own stomach started to rumble and just on cue, the four little ones came into the doorway.

"I'm hungry, Mommy," Nick announced for all of them.

"I'm so sorry, guys," Sam said standing and ushering them toward the kitchen. "What does everyone want to eat?"

"Mac an' cheese Mommy, pwease?" Nick said, tugging on her hand.

"Sounds good, pal. Everyone go sit at the table and I'll cut up some apples for you, too."

By the time they were all finished and cleaned up, it was almost two o'clock. Sam had been hovering near the phone, but she hadn't told the kids that they were heading to the base soon. She didn't want them going crazy and out of control, but when Nick asked if they could get the swimming pool out, he kept whining until she told them why.

"We can't get the swimming pool out because we have to be ready to go to the base. They might have found Daddy and Uncle Daniel and Jonas," she told him.

"They found Daddy?" Nick asked, jumping up and down.

"Not yet, we're just going to go to the base with Aunt Vala to be ready when they come back." Sam was beginning to feel taking the kids to the base wasn't the best idea. She had no idea what to expect. She really didn't want the kids to have to see their loved ones carried back in body bags or with gruesome wounds. _She_ didn't want to see that. She also knew that she had little choice as she couldn't make herself stay away from the base at this point.

"Let's make a bag of stuff to take to the base in case we're there a while, okay?" she suggested. She grabbed an old backpack from the closet and told the kids to get some books and toys they wanted to take.

The boys scampered upstairs, but Elsie hung back. "Do we have to go home now, Sam?" she asked quietly.

"Don't worry Elsie, it'll still be a while before you go back to Kelowna. We have to make sure it's safe for you, and it's definitely not safe right now. Okay?"

The little girl seemed satisfied with this answer and followed the boys upstairs to gather things to take to the base. Sam packed snacks, Nick's box of crayons, and some paper. Then she headed upstairs to get their pajamas in case they had to spend the night. She looked in Nick's bedroom and found the boys playing with the lightsabers _again_, though at least this time Nick wasn't on the bed. Elsie was carefully stacking books from Nick's shelf to put in the backpack. Sam held the backpack open to her and the little girl slid them in with a certain reverence.

"Okay guys, what toys do you want to take?" Sam asked stepping between the lightsaber battle.

"Wightsabers!" Nick said, brandishing his.

"No, we can't take the lightsabers. Find something small, okay? It has to fit in the backpack."

They finally had the bag packed with the necessary items, and Sam herded them all downstairs again, frequently checking her cell and the house phone to see if she'd somehow missed any calls. The plan was for Vala to meet them there, and then she would follow Sam up to the base since they all wouldn't fit in one car.

Suddenly the phone rang. The caller ID identified it as General Landry and Sam snatched the phone up. "Hello?"

"Colonel O'Neill? The excavation team believes they're almost at the surface. They can hear people working from the top, and they think someone must have heard the gate activate and realized what it was. They estimate it won't be more than an hour before breaking the surface," the general said, that strange mix of excitement and fear in his voice Sam had been feeling all day.

"Thank you, sir. Vala and I are headed up there as soon as possible."

"What about all the kids?"

Sam hesitated. "They're coming too, sir," she finally said, hoping it didn't sound insubordinate.

"Whatever you think is best, colonel. I'll see you in a little while."

Sam breathed a sigh of relief, just as she heard Vala's car pull up.

"Okay guys, everybody ready?" She glanced at all the little feet to make sure everyone had shoes, and then herded them out the door. The boys were going crazy, picking up on Sam's anxiety, and it took even longer than usual to get them all buckled. Elsie was still subdued, and Sam guessed the little girl was feeling even more mixed emotions than she was. With a wave at Vala, she backed out of the driveway and headed toward the mountain.

* * *

Sorry for the ridiculously long wait, but I had all kinds of trouble writing this chapter and school is constantly getting in the way. :) Anyway, thanks for the encouraging reviews and your patience!


	14. Return of the Daddies

"Sir!"

Jack looked up at the marine running toward him. He was still sitting between his two friends. Jonas was thrashing around, the fever eating him away, and Daniel was alarmingly pale under his burns. Jack had been trying to do everything possible for them, but there just wasn't much he could do and he was getting frustrated.

"What?" he snapped at the marine.

"Sir, we think the Stargate was activated," the marine said, pointing back toward the ruin of the warehouse.

Jack got to his feet. "What do you mean?"

"We heard the sound, sir. We thought we heard sounds of people down there too but we're not sure," the kid said breathlessly.

Jack looked carefully at him. Sometimes situations like this made people hear and see things they wanted to hear.

"I'm not crazy sir, lots of us heard it," the marine insisted.

"Okay, let's go check it out," Jack said, looking down at his friends. He didn't want to leave them but if they could uncover the Stargate and get back to the SGC, that would be their best chance of survival.

As many people who could began trying to move the large blocks of cement and other debris out of the way of where they had heard the Stargate activate. Jack ran back to the triage center often to check on Daniel and Jonas, ignoring the now fiery pain of sore muscles and joints. After an hour and a half they began to hear noises of the people working from the other side. They renewed their efforts, calling out to the others and receiving answering calls. They finally broke through after three solid hours of work and cheers rose up for the SG team that had come through the gate.

"'Bout time," Jack said, clapping the leader on the shoulder.

.......................................................................................

Sam and Vala and the kids were all up in the conference room overlooking the gate room when they heard the general's announcement over the loud-speakers.

"We have just received word from SG-4, they have broken the surface and made contact with the survivors. All available SG teams to the gate room to help do more excavation so we can get the gate standing back up and the injured through."

The kids ran over to the window to stand next to Sam and Vala, the little ones standing on their tiptoes to see into the gate room even though they weren't quite sure what was going on. Sam squeezed Vala's shoulder. They were both so anxious they were nauseous and the kids were getting bored and whiny, but it looked like it would be a little bit longer before anyone started coming through the gate.

......................................................................................

"C'mon everyone, pull!" the excavation team leader shouted as they struggled to right the huge gate. "They're going to open the wormhole again in fifteen minutes!"

They hadn't been able to uncover the DHD, so the SGC had scheduled regular openings to check in on them. Hopefully, with this next one, they'd be able to send a naquada generator so they could manually dial the gate and start getting the wounded moved through.

Jack had left the crew to their work and helped with bringing the seriously wounded closer to the gate in order to get them through as soon as possible. The excavation team had brought as many medical supplies as they could and the antibiotics were starting to help Jonas, but Jack was pretty sure Daniel had some internal injuries and might even need surgery.

"Jack . . ." Jonas mumbled from the ground.

Jack crouched down next to his friend, relieved to see him conscious. "We're almost ready to take you back the SGC Jonas. You're gonna be okay."

"Kids?"

Jack had been thinking it was likely that Sam would be waiting at the SGC for their return, and she would have all the kids with her. "They'll probably be waiting for us when we go through the gate."

Jonas tried to sit up, and Jack put a hand on his chest and forced him back down. "Jack, I'm fine." He looked over at Daniel and gasped. "What happened?"

Jack grimaced. "Daniel still has a little problem with not doing dumb things. There was another explosion at the storehouses."

Jonas tried to sit up again. "What? How many others were hurt?"

"Just Daniel, this time," Jack said watching Daniel's chest rise and fall with each erratic breath.

"Is he going to be alright?" Jonas asked, letting Jack push him back down.

Jack looked over at the men working on the gate anxiously. "That depends."

"Okay!" the excavation team leader shouted. "Everybody clear! The gate should activate in the next few minutes!"

Jack watched as everyone backed up and the wormhole swooshed out and locked. Another SG team stepped through, prepared to help with the transport of the wounded. Their leader stepped forward. "Medical teams are standing by, let's get these people through!"

Jack glanced at Jonas. "I'm fine Jack, take Daniel and go," Jonas urged.

Jack nodded and he and a marine got Daniel on a stretcher and through the gate.

......................................................................................

Sam looked up from drawing a picture with Nick as she heard the gate activate.

"Medical teams stand by to receive wounded!"

Sam stood shoulder to shoulder with Vala, their noses practically pressed up against the glass, trying to identify the stream of people coming through the gate. There! Jack came through carrying a stretcher. Was that . . . Daniel? Medics had swarmed around the stretcher and it was hard to see, but after years of knowing someone, you recognized them no matter what shape they were in. Vala had too.

"Daniel!" she gasped softly into the hand that had crept up to cover her mouth.

Jack looked up briefly and caught Sam's eyes. He gave her a small smile and she let out a shaky breath. Jack and Daniel were still alive at least. She looked over at Vala.

"Vala, I'll stay with the kids if you want to go be with him," Sam said gently.

Vala was still staring out the window, even though the medical team had rushed Daniel out of the gate room by now. Sam touched her shoulder and she snapped out of her shock and nodded, practically running for the stairs.

Ethan jumped out of his seat and started to follow, but Sam grabbed him. "You don't want to be down there right now Ethan, trust me," she said gently.

"But . . . my dad, is he gonna be okay?" the boy asked, his voice trembling. "I want to see him!"

"Your dad's been through a lot worse than this, kiddo. You'll get to see him soon, okay?" she said drawing him into a hug. Ethan didn't usually allow that kind of physical affection, but he was scared and upset and hugged Sam back a little desperately. Sam looked up to find all the other little ones staring at them. Sophie leapt off her chair and ran forward, tears overflowing from her eyes.

"I want daddy!" she protested tearfully.

Sam let go of Ethan to pick the little girl up. "Daddy's gonna be okay, sweetheart. We'll all get to see him soon." Sophie rested her head on Sam's shoulder and started crying little hiccuping sobs. They were all emotionally and physically exhausted and soon all of them, even the twins were sniffling a little bit.

Sam swallowed, trying to get a hold of herself and looked back out the window, trying to find Jack again. Sure enough, he was at the base of the ramp, now supporting Jonas. Jonas looked pale and was leaning heavily on Jack, but she couldn't see any signs of a horrible injury. She waved at them and held up a finger to signal they should wait for a minute.

"C'mere guys! It's Daddy and Jonas!" she said beckoning the sniffling little ones over. The boys were barely tall enough to see, but they managed to catch sight of Jack and Jonas and started waving exuberantly. Jack and Jonas grinned and waved back.

"Daddy!" the twins suddenly shouted, hopping up and down to get a better look. Sam was startled. It was the first time the twins had spoken since she'd first met them. The shouts of "daddy" soon caught on and all the little ones were jumping and waving or shouting. Sam saw Jack turn his attention to something Jonas was saying and shook his head. Jonas became more adamant and Jack sighed and gave in. He looked up at Sam with a smile and pointed at himself and Jonas, and then up at them.

"Sure?" Sam mouthed carefully, letting her concern for Jonas show on her face. They both nodded and started moving toward the door, Jonas waving the medical team off.

"They're coming up here guys," Sam said, trying to contain her relief and excitement. "But I don't know how bad they're hurt, so be careful, okay?"

The kids didn't really listen. The three little boys were still jumping around and shouting "daddy," and Elsie was grinning at the stairway, waiting.

Sam was still holding Sophie, so she sat her down in a chair next to Ethan. "I'm sorry your daddy's not here, too," she said gently to the two children. They looked back at her solemnly. "I promise we'll go see him soon, okay?"

Sophie nodded slowly and Ethan said, "It's okay Aunt Sam, we're happy Uncle Jack and Jonas are okay, too."

Sam smiled at him gratefully and went to attempt corralling the boys. She had just got them quiet when they heard voices from the stairs.

"I'm _fine_ Jack, it's my arm that's hurt, not my legs!" At the sound of their father's voice, the twins went crazy again and Elsie started bouncing up and down. The two men's heads finally appeared as they came up the stairs, and Sam managed to hold the little ones back until they weren't in danger of knocking their fathers down the stairs and then let them go. Jack steadied Jonas with a grin as all three of his children hit his legs at full force. Jonas gave up trying to stand and sat down on the floor, the three of them already crawling into his lap, chattering excitedly.

Nick reached Jack before Sam and he swung the little boy up to his hip. Nick threw his arms around Jack's neck and held on tightly and Sam stepped into his other arm and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on just as tight. He squeezed her to him and kissed the top of her head. Sam didn't speak for fear of crying, and besides, Nick was doing all the talking for both of them, telling Jack all about the last couple days at Mach speed.

Everyone finally calmed down and Jack and Jonas had collapsed into the conference chairs, their children snuggled into their laps. Sam felt a need to stay in physical contact with Jack and her fingers were intertwined with his, their hands resting lightly on his thigh. Sophie was in her lap and Ethan was sitting on the table, his legs swinging.

"Is Dad going to be okay?" he asked softly of the other men.

Jack hesitated for a second. "I think he will be now," he said. "Is Vala down there with him?"

"Right here, actually," came Vala's voice from the stairs. Sophie jumped off Sam's lap and Vala lifted her into her arms.

"How's he doing?" Jack asked quickly.

Vala sighed. "They took him into surgery a few minutes ago but they said he should be alright." Sam caught the tremble in her voice and stood up to hug her.

"What happened?" Sam asked Jack after Vala had composed herself.

He sighed and exchanged a weary look with Jonas. Jonas spoke first. "The terrorist group that opposes unification set off a bomb at the base of the Stargate. The entire building collapsed but we were all in a different building."

"Then how did Daniel get hurt?" Sam asked, sitting back down as Vala pulled up a chair.

Jack took up the narrative. "We ran out of medical supplies and were heading out to get some from some storehouses Jonas had hidden, but when we got there, we found them gutted. Daniel freaked out a little and ran down the hill just as another bomb went off in the storehouses. He got it pretty good." Jack frowned and looked down, absently smoothing Nick's hair.

"Mommy said we're gonna have a party, Daddy!" the little boy said turning in Jack's lap to look at him.

Just then a startled "Daddy?" came from Elsie. They all looked over at Jonas who had slumped to the side.

"Jonas!" Sam said, springing up.

Jonas snapped up and took a deep breath. "It's okay, I'm just a little . . . tired."

Sam touched Jonas' forehead and realized he was feverish. "Jonas, we need to get you down to the infirmary," Sam said, trying to get his kids off his lap so he could stand.

Elsie understood what was going on and slid off his lap, worry etched across her small face. The twins however, didn't want to let go of him. Jonas was rapidly growing more out of it and was trying to explain to them where he was going, but they struggled against Sam as she pulled them off his lap and started crying.

Anguish covered Jonas' face as Vala helped him up. "I'm sorry," he said over and over.

"I'll take him," Vala said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "I want to see how Daniel's doing anyway."

Sam nodded distractedly at her as she tried to quiet the twins. Jack tried to help her, but Sam could see that every movement was causing him pain and that he was beyond exhausted. The twins eventually quieted, curling up next to Elsie on the floor. Sam got some books from the backpack and gave them to all the little ones, pulling Nick off Jack's lap.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up," she said touching Jack's face softly.

He stood with a wince and kissed her soundly. "I love you," he said with a small smile, their faces still close.

She smiled back at him and returned the kiss, then nudged him toward the stairs. "I love you too," she said as he started down.


	15. A Little Down Time

Left alone with all the kids in the conference room, Sam slumped into a chair and sighed. She was so tired! And it wasn't even four o'clock yet. She looked around at the six little kids, all settled with a book or paper and crayons for now, and tears came to her eyes as she thought about how good they'd been all day considering the chaos. She was proud of them!

Sam did her best to keep them occupied for the next little while. Vala came up about an hour later to tell them Daniel had just gotten out of surgery but was still in the section designated "intensive care," and hadn't woken up yet. Jonas was doing better but the medics had insisted he get some rest and had actually drugged him up so he would sleep without trying to go back to Kelowna to help. Vala also informed them that General Landry had advised that they all go home, as he was going to need the conference room soon and there was no where else for the kids to go.

Sam had slumped a little at this announcement, and she could tell that Vala wasn't happy about it either. "Have you seen Jack?"

Vala nodded. "He's on his way up. I'm pretty sure he plans on going home with you."

Sam sighed with relief. "Between the two of us, I think we can handle the kids if you want to stay here with Daniel."

Vala looked grateful. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, what's two more kids?" Sam said half-jokingly.

"Ya know," came a voice from the stairway. "If I had thought about it, I would have made all of you come down to meet _me,_" Jack finished as he reached the top, wincing. Nick catapulted himself into Jack's legs.

"Are you comin' home, Daddy?" he said, looking up.

Jack ruffled his hair. "Yup, if I can manage to avoid the rest of the doctors," he said, grinning at Sam. She rolled her eyes but smiled back at him.

"Okay everybody, help pack up everything and get shoes on," Sam said to the group of kids. They had all taken their shoes off at some point and they were spread haphazardly among the books, crayons, and toys that had been in the backpack.

Ethan walked over to Vala, the concerned face that made him look so much like Daniel, in place. "Can we go see Dad, Mom? Me and Sophie haven't even got to see him."

Vala cupped his face in her hand. "You're not allowed down there right now, baby. There's too many people to get in the way of."

"But . . ."

"Ethan, I wish you could see him too, and I'm sure Daddy would love a visit from you, but I think we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Ethan turned away, folding his arms. Sophie came up to Vala too, holding out her shoes.

"Mommy, can you help me?" she asked.

"Sure baby, c'mere."

Vala sat on the floor and Sophie sat in her lap. As Vala tied the tiny pink shoes, Sophie looked up at her. "Are you staying here with Daddy?"

"Yes sweetheart, you're going to go home with Aunt Sam, okay?"

"Okay. But how come we can't see Daddy? I wanna see him."

Vala kissed her head and set her on her feet, her shoes properly attached. "I know, baby, but you just can't right now."

Sam could see Vala's patience wearing thin. "Hey Sophie, when we get home we can get the swimming pool out, okay?"

Sophie brightened up but wasn't entirely distracted. "Can I see Daddy tomorrow?"

"I certainly hope so, sweetheart. Maybe you can even talk to him on the phone tonight, okay?" Vala said, smiling at her.

"Okay!" The little girl kissed Vala on the cheek and gave her a hug before going off to help Elsie pack up the books.

"We'll stop by your house and get swimming stuff and pj's for them," Sam said.

Vala squeezed her arm. "Thank you so much, Sam. And you too, Jack, I'm glad you made it back."

"I'm sorry I didn't keep him safe, Vala," he said, the frustration evident on his face.

Vala bit her lip and her eyes pooled up. "It's not your fault. He manages stuff like this all by himself." She managed a watery smile. "Call me if you need anything."

She gave Sophie and Ethan a quick hug even though Ethan pulled away, still angry at not being able to see Daniel, and ran down the stairs.

Sam and Jack managed to get all six kids in the car, though it was pretty squished and some of the little ones were sharing a seat belt. She still felt horrible that she hadn't got car seats for the twins yet, and made sure to drive extra carefully. Jack fell asleep against the window almost as soon as they started off and the kids were all starting to drift off themselves. Sam really didn't want them going to sleep this late in the day, but luckily, the quick stop at the Jackson's woke them up enough that they made it home without falling asleep. As Sam pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, Jack awoke with a start and looked over at her, a small smile on his face.

"Sorry, didn't mean to crash on you like that," he said.

She smiled back and reached over to squeeze his hand. "I think you're entitled to a little rest, Jack." Then her smile turned mischievous. "Now, help me with all these kids."

He snapped a salute, his grin widening, and got out of the car. They unbuckled and herded all the kids through the front door, but as Sam was about to follow them in, Jack grabbed her arm, turned her toward him, and kissed her soundly.

When he pulled back, he was grinning like a kid and she couldn't help but grin back. "I love you, Jack."

"I love you too, Sam."

They went in the house to find that the kids had all ended up in the kitchen. When they noticed the adults, Kaden pointed emphatically at the fridge, and Nick and Sophie both chorused, "I'm hungry!" Sam realized it was almost six and she was starving too. She also realized she had no idea what to cook for dinner.

Jack wrapped an arm around her waist. "You want me to order pizza again?"

Sam was about to object, but the kids had heard the word pizza and were voicing their approval. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Well, I guess I have no choice," she said leaning into Jack.

He laughed and hugged her closer, planting a kiss on her temple. "All right guys, who wants to order?"

Sophie, Nick, and Elsie all started waving their hands and jumping up and down, shouting variations of "my turn!" and "me!" The twins started jumping up and down too, even though they could care less about the phone. As it was, Ethan was the only one tall enough to actually reach the phone from its spot up on the counter. He held it up with a grin. Jack chuckled and pointed at him so the little ones would look over. Elsie's shoulders slumped slightly and she stopped jumping, but Nick and Sophie both lunged for the phone. Jack managed to catch them before they could tackle Ethan who was still grinning.

"Dad!" Nick pouted. "Efan doesn't even know the number!"

"It's my turn!" Sophie added, both of the four-year-olds poking their bottom lips out.

Jack grinned at the way Nick pronounced his cousin's name. "Well, you'll just have to tell it to him then."

"Nooo!" Nick said stamping his foot. Sophie copied him comically.

"Tell you what. Ethan's gonna order, Nick can answer the door when the delivery boy comes, Sophie can give him the money, and Elsie can carry the pizza boxes. That work?" Jack asked trying to say it seriously enough that they would buy it.

Elsie, Nick, and Sophie all thought about the arrangement for a minute. Then Elsie slowly nodded. "That's a good plan, Jack," she said, dead serious.

Sam covered her mouth to try and stop the laughter from bubbling out. The situation just reminded her of being in the field. They were taking it as seriously as if the fate of the galaxy hung in the balance.

Jack cleared his throat to cover up his own laughter, and though Nick looked at him suspiciously, he finally agreed too, and Sophie did when her cousin did.

Jack grinned at them. "Great, now that that's settled, you wanna tell Ethan the number?"

Nick still didn't look happy about relinquishing his duty to his older cousin, but he told Ethan the number.

As they were ordering the pizza, Sam took the twins to the bathroom, realizing that none of the kids had been for a while. That taken care of, she reminded Nick and Sophie that they should probably go too. Nick protested until Jack reminded him that he'd better hurry or he'd miss his chance to open the door for the pizza boy, even though it would actually be a good half hour before he got there. When everyone had completed their business, they all ended up in the living room. Nick dragged his huge tub of Legos down from his room, and all six kids were playing happily with them, except for the occasional argument if a tower was knocked over or a piece was stolen. Sam had just started to massage some of the tension out of Jack's shoulders when the phone rang. They both sighed, neither wanting to get up. The problem was solved when Nick jumped up and raced into the kitchen. They heard him scraping a chair across the floor so he could climb up and reach the phone.

"Hewo?" his little voice asked. "Yep, this is Nick!" he said in reply to whatever the person on the other end had said. "Yep, hang on. Mommy! It's for you!" he shouted from the kitchen.

Sam shook her head and sighed. "Bring it in here, silly!" she called back.

They heard him jump off the chair and he came running into the living room, the phone outstretched toward her.

"Hello?"

"Colonel O'Neill? It's General Landry."

"Oh, hello sir."

"You might want to tell Nick to hold the phone away from his mouth before he shouts for you," the general said, only half-joking.

Sam winced. "Sorry, sir."

"That's all right. I have a favor to ask you and Jack. I know you already have quite a few guests, but Mr. Quinn has requested to be discharged and go back to Kelowna to help. I've been told he still needs rest, but I don't think we can keep him here much longer. Would it be possible for him to come stay with you? Then he could at least be with his children."

"I'm sure that would be fine, sir." She covered the receiver and looked at her husband. "Jack, Jonas can come stay here, right?" Jack looked a little surprised but nodded. "Do we need to come pick him up, sir?"

"No, I'll have someone bring him. He should be there in a few minutes. I appreciate this, Colonel," he added.

"No problem, sir."

As she hung up the phone and put it next to her on the couch, she did a quick count of people and beds. Jonas would have to sleep on the couch and Sophie and Ethan would have to share the guest bedroom, but it would work.

She suddenly realized Elsie was standing in front of her. "Sam? Is my daddy coming home?"

Sam smiled at her. "Yeah! He's going to be here in just a few minutes."

Elsie grinned and bounced up on the couch to hug Sam before going back to play with the Legos, though she kept glancing toward the door expectantly.

Sam turned back to Jack and resumed the massage. "They finally run out of sedatives for Jonas?" he asked.

"Very funny. He just wants to help his people."

Sam expected him to say something along the lines of "they don't deserve it," but he was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, I want to help them too."

"Really?"

"Well, I want to blow the sons of -"

"Jack!"

"Sorry," he said, glancing toward the kids. "I guess what I mean is that I want to get the terrorist group who's doing the bombings. There's a lot of people over there who don't deserve living in fear every day."

Sam nodded just as the doorbell rang. All six kids sprang up and raced for the door.

"Nicky gets to open it, remember?" Jack said, getting up and following them.

Everyone reluctantly hung back and Nick pulled the door open, but it was neither the pizza boy nor Jonas. Nick, Sophie, and Ethan all shouted in unison, "Uncle Teal'c!"


	16. Uncle Teal'c

_Nick, Sophie, and Ethan all shouted in unison, "Uncle Teal'c!"_

The big man picked up Nick and the little boy gave him a hug. Ethan and Sophie both rushed forward too, hugging their huge "Uncle."

"Greetings," Teal'c rumbled with a small smile, picking Sophie up, too.

"Hi Teal'c!" Jack exclaimed, a little surprised that his friend was already back from visiting Ry'ac and his family. "Come on in!"

Teal'c stepped inside and his gaze fell upon the Quinns who had all run behind Jack when they saw the huge man and were now peering at him with wide eyes.

"These are Jonas Quinn's offspring?" Teal'c asked.

Jack nodded and tried to pull the kids out from behind him. "Give 'em a little time, they'll get used to ya, big guy."

Teal'c followed Jack into the living room and Sam jumped up to give him a hug, which was a little difficult since he was still carrying Nick and Sophie.

"How was your trip?" Sam asked as they all settled down onto the couch, Nick and Sophie hopping down to play with the legos again.

One of Teal'c's rare smiles spread across his face. "It was most enjoyable. Rya'c and his family are all healthy and prosperous."

"That's great, T. When do we get to see this new granddaughter of yours anyway?" Jack asked, grinning at his friend.

"I suspect it will be some time before the situation on Kelowna allows for leisure gate travel O'Neill," Teal'c said, his smile fading.

"So you heard about everything?" Sam asked looking at the kids again. The Quinns were still giving Teal'c wary looks every so often.

Teal'c nodded. "Yes. I was told everything that has transpired and was able to visit Daniel and Vala Jackson."

"You saw Daniel? How's he doing?" Sam asked anxiously.

"He had not yet awoken when I was there, but Vala assured me he will recover."

"I don't even worry about Daniel anymore," Jack joked. "A guy dies so many times and . . ."

Sam rolled her eyes and turned back to Teal'c. "Jonas should be here soon and we're having pizza. You want to stay?"

Teal'c opened his mouth to reply, but Nick jumped into his lap and started talking rapidly. "Pwease stay Uncle T? We're gonna have pizza and play in the pool an' have fun! Pwease, pwease, pwease?"

"Calm yourself young Nickolas. I will stay for a time," Teal'c said, the corners of his mouth lifting.

Nick threw his arms around him. "Yay!"

Suddenly the doorbell rang again and all the kids jumped up again. Jack sighed dramatically and got up to follow them. This time it was Jonas. His arm was in a sling and he looked a little pale, but he smiled as his children all crowded around him, hugging his legs.

"Hi, guys," he said crouching down and hugging them, their exuberance nearly knocking him over.

"C'mon guys, let's let your dad sit down," Jack said, gently pulling the twins back so Jonas could get in the house. The kids scampered after Jonas pulling on his good hand as he followed Jack into the living room. Teal'c rose and greeted him with the customary Jaffa "handshake," grabbing Jonas' forearm tightly.

"It is good to see you Jonas Quinn."

Jonas grinned a hint of his old grin. "Good to see you too, Teal'c. You have . . . hair."

One side of Teal'c's mouth went up. "You have . . . children."

Jonas' smile widened. "Yeah, tell me about it."

They had all just settled back down onto the couches, all the Quinns squished together on the smaller couch, Sam, Jack, and Teal'c still on the big couch and the other kids back with the legos, when the doorbell rang _again._

"Your turn," Jack said, looking at Sam as all the kids scampered for the door again.

Sam got up and followed them. "You'd think they'd get tired of it after a while."

Nick opened the door as planned, and this time it was the pizza boy.

"Hi, Andy!" Nick said.

Andy had several piercings and his hair was always a different color, but he was friendly. "Hey, Nick! Looks like you got some friends over."

"These are my _cousins,_" Nick clarified.

"I get to pay!" Sophie shouted as Sam got her wallet from her purse on the entryway table.

"Okay, here you go." Sam handed the check to Sophie who solemnly handed it to Andy. Andy grinned, raising his eyebrows in amusement. Elsie held out her arms for the boxes and he handed them to her.

"I'll see you guys later," Andy said, still chuckling at the kids and going back to the car.

"Bye, Andy!" Nick shouted.

Sam followed the kids into the kitchen where Jack, Jonas, and Teal'c were getting out paper plates and sippy cups. Elsie carefully slid the pizza boxes onto the table, and Jack gave the kids high fives for completing the "plan."

"Good work, soldiers!" he said, playfully saluting them.

They giggled and saluted back, most of them with the wrong hand. As Jack helped the kids into chairs, Sam asked Teal'c if he could go get some of the extra folding chairs they kept in the garage and Jonas offered to help. Everyone squished in when they returned with the chairs, and between the kids and the limited space, cups of juice spilled twice and Sophie got pizza sauce on her arm, clear up to her elbow. Nick laughed so hard when she tried to lick it all off that he fell off his chair, taking his slice of pizza with him and getting it all over his shirt. By the time they made it through dinner and everything was cleaned up, it was after seven.

"Daddy, can we go get out the swimming pool?" Nick asked, jumping up and down and pulling on his dad's arm.

"You know what, Nicky, it's getting dark and it's too cold to play in the swimming pool right now, okay?" Jack said.

"Nooo! It's a party, Daddy! Mommy said!" Nicky said, doing his customary foot stomp.

"It really is getting to late for the pool, buddy," Sam said gently.

Sophie joined Nick's ranks. "Please, Aunt Sam? Pretty pretty please? Just for a minute?"

"Nope, sorry guys. You'll all get sick or something," Sam said firmly.

Nicky stuck his lip out and crawled under the table to pout.

Sam sighed and shook her head. She couldn't figure out if his stubbornness came from her or Jack. Probably both.

"I know," Jack was saying. "Let's show Uncle Jonas some of the family videos so he can get to know you guys."

Sam smiled at him gratefully as Ethan and Sophie excitedly agreed. Nick wouldn't be able to resist long. Jonas looked excited too. "I wish I had something to show you of my kids," he said watching them run after Ethan and Sophie into the living room.

"Perhaps you can share some stories with us, Jonas Quinn," Teal'c suggested with a slight incline of his head. Jonas nodded and smiled at Teal'c.

Jack led the way into the living room and helped the kids find the DVDs that documented their previous years together. They all settled in, Jonas cuddled up with his three again, and Sophie opting to sit on Teal'c's lap while Ethan squished between Sam and Teal'c. Jack even turned off the lights for the full movie theater effect. Sam had been right, Nick came in after a few minutes and crawled into Teal'c's lap next to Sophie, still mad at his parents. Everyone gave a running commentary for the Quinns as they watched the videos, and Jonas even chuckled a couple of times, hints of his old smile evident. They had been watching the videos for over an hour when the phone rang. Sam got up from her cozy spot curled up next to Jack on the couch to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Sam, how is everything?" Sam recognized Vala's voice.

"Hi, Vala. We're doing fine. I was just starting to think about calling it a night."

"Oh good, I'm glad I called. Daniel wants to try and talk to the kids."

"How's he doing?" Sam asked, relieved that he was apparently awake and conscious enough to talk on the phone.

"Better, but it's going to take some time and General Landry says it's still too dangerous for the kids to come visit."

Sam could hear the frustration in her voice. "Well, let me get them for you so he can talk to them. Ethan! Sophie! Your dad's on the phone!" she called.

The two of them raced in and Ethan got to the phone first, which earned a pout from Sophie.

"Hello?" Ethan said.

"Hey, kiddo," Daniel replied. His voice was hoarse and he sounded tired.

"Hey, Dad! Are you doing better?"

"Yeah, a little bit. Are you guys having fun at Aunt Sam's house?"

"Yeah. Can we come see you tomorrow?"

"I'm sorry Ethan, but no. Believe me buddy, I wish you could come too."

"Why not? Why won't they let us come see you?" Ethan said, anger and frustration evident on his face.

"There's still a ton of people here and they don't want you getting in the way." Ethan tried to say something but Daniel cut him off. "I know you won't get in the way on purpose, Ethan. We just have to wait until things settle down here, okay?"

Ethan sighed, his eyes showing a faint shimmer of tears. "Okay, Dad."

"I'd love to talk to you longer Ethan but I'm losing my voice. Can I talk to Sophie real quick?" Daniel said, his voice growing weaker.

"Sure. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, buddy. I'll see you soon."

"Kay, here's Sophie." Ethan passed the phone to his little sister reluctantly and went back into the living room, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Sophie grabbed the phone eagerly. "Hello? Daddy?"

"Hi, sweetheart. How're you doing?"

"I'm good, Daddy! Do you know what? Uncle Teal'c came over and Uncle Jonas and we had pizza for dinner and I got it all over me and Nicky fell off his chair and we couldn't play in the swimming pool but now we're watching baby videos!"

Daniel chuckled. "Wow, that's a lot of stuff."

"What have you been doing?" she asked sweetly.

"Not much, sweetheart. Just sleeping."

"That's not fun, Daddy, you should come home so we can play."

"I'm sorry, baby, I can't come home yet."

"Are you still hurt? Mommy said you had big owies and that she can't even kiss them better!"

Daniel chuckled again. "Yup, I have some pretty big owies. All right, sweetheart, I have to give the phone back to Mommy now, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy. I love you!"

"I love you too, baby, I'll see you soon, okay?"

He handed the phone to Vala, who listened to their daughter give the same play by play of the evening as she'd given Daniel.

"I'm glad you're having fun Sophie! Are you okay to sleep over again?"

"Yeah!" the little girl said, grinning.

"Okay sweetheart, can I talk to Aunt Sam again now?"

"Yep. Love you, Mommy!"

"I love you, too."

Sophie handed the phone to Sam and bounced back into the living room.

"Thanks again for letting them stay there, Sam. I'll try and get home tomorrow and get them off your hands."

"They're really no problem, Vala. How much longer does Daniel have to stay in the infirmary? Do you know yet?"

Vala sighed. "At least a couple weeks. Things should settle down here soon though, and the kids can come in and visit at least."

"I hope so. Daniel's probably missing them like crazy."

"I am, too."

"Hang in there. I think I'm going to try to get everyone to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow, Vala. Say hi to Daniel for me."

"All right Sam, goodnight."

* * *

Sorry for the long gaps in my chapter uploads. I'm done with school for the summer now though, so hopefully I'll have a little more time to write. Thanks for all the reviews!


	17. Breakdown

Sam hung up and went back into the living room. She was reluctant to turn off the videos, but the twins were pretty much asleep and Nick was rapidly drifting off on Teal'c's lap. She knew they were all tired and wanted them to be well rested for the next day. She picked up the remote and hit stop, immediately earning whines from all the little ones.

"Time for bed!" she announced. Nick and Sophie started begging for five more minutes. Elsie and the twins looked disappointed too. "Nope, it's getting late and I know you're all tired, so everybody get pj's on and go potty."

Sophie reluctantly started heading for the guest bedroom for her pj's, and Sam reached to turn off the TV.

"No, Mommy!" Nick cried, jumping off Teal'c's lap and grabbing at her hand.

"Nicky, stop it. It's time for bed."

Nick collapsed on the floor and started kicking the floor with his heels. He didn't usually throw tantrums anymore, but he had had a long day. So had Jack. He got up from the couch, his patience mostly gone, and grabbed Nick, hauling him to his feet.

"Nickolas Carter O'Neill! Stop that right now or you go to the Chair!" Nick kept screaming and refused to stand up, letting his legs collapse every time Jack tried to stand him up. "That's it, buster," Jack said, picking him up and taking him to the corner that housed The Chair. He plopped the screaming little boy down and informed him he could get off when he decided to be nice and get his pajamas on.

Sam apologized to Teal'c and Jonas, but they waved it off, both having been around children enough that tantrums were nothing new. Teal'c told them he was going back to the SGC to help, and said his goodbyes. Jonas rounded up his three and they all headed upstairs for their pajamas. It was nice having Jonas here, Sam had to admit, even if he really should be in the infirmary still.

"You too, Ethan," Sam said.

Ethan looked like he was about to argue but Sam gave him her "I'm quickly losing my patience and you better do what you're supposed to do right now" face and he followed his sister to the guest room.

Sam started picking up the various discarded little shoes that littered the living room carpet, trying to ignore Nick's screams which were quickly turning to exhausted sobs. She looked over and saw Jack crouching in front of their little boy, trying to tell him that it was time for bed and that he needed to stop crying and be a big boy. Nick just kept shaking his head and crying.

Sam approached them and Jack looked back at her, a glimmer of concern on his face. "I can't figure out what's wrong," he said.

"Sam crouched down next to him and looked at Nick who was still crying, his little face red and damp with tears and snot. "Nicky, it's okay, it's just bedtime. What's the matter? All your cousins are sleeping over and you can play with them tomorrow."

He just shook his head, his little body shaking with renewed sobs. Sam and Jack looked at each other.

"Maybe we could break the rule this time," Jack said. The rule was that Nick didn't get to get off The Chair until he stopped crying, but he was uncharacteristically upset about something more than having to go to bed.

Sam agreed with Jack and held out her arms to Nick. "C'mere, baby," she said gently.

He practically fell off the chair into her arms, but almost immediately squirmed to be let go and went to Jack. The little boy clung to his dad with all his strength, still sobbing. Jack picked him up and went to sit on the couch, rubbing Nick's back and whispering calming words in his ear. Sam suddenly noticed that Sophie was standing in the hallway, looking with concern at her cousin.

"Is Nicky okay?" she asked softly.

"He's just tired, honey. Are you and Ethan all ready for bed?" she asked coming over to her.

Sophie put her arms around Sam's leg and nodded. "Will you read me a story?"

Sam looked back at her husband and son. Jack nodded. "Go ahead, we'll be okay." Sam was still concerned about Nick, but she followed Sophie back to the guest room. Ethan was already in bed, reading some huge book he had likely borrowed from his dad. Sam smiled at the sight. In moments like this, it always threw her off how much the kid looked like Daniel. Same furrowed brow as he tried to understand something, same level of concentration. She cuddled up with Sophie on the other bed and started reading the picture book Sophie had found somewhere. By the time the book was over, Sophie was almost asleep and Sam was feeling pleasantly sleepy herself. She got off the bed and kissed Sophie's forehead, tucking her under the covers.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," she said softly.

"'Night, Aunt Sam," the sleepy little girl murmured, her eyes already closed.

"Lights out, Ethan," Sam said going to stand in the doorway, her hand resting on the light switch.

"Five more minutes?" he pleaded, turning his father's deep blue eyes on her.

Sam grinned ruefully. She couldn't say no to Daniel when he did that either. "Okay, five more minutes then I'm going to come turn it off, okay?"

Ethan nodded, already buried back in his book.

Sam went back in the living room, glad to see Nick had stopped crying. She thought he was asleep at first because his head was turned away from her on Jack's shoulder. She came and sat next to them on the other side, realizing Nick was still wide awake, but clearly exhausted. She cuddled up next to Jack and stroked the little boy's hair gently. "What's the matter, Nicky? How come you're so sad?"

"I don't wanna go to bed!" he said vehemently, his voice shaky.

Jack held him tighter. "Shh, it's okay, buddy. How come you don't want to go to bed? I'll read you a story first," Jack tempted. Nick just shook his head and clutched Jack's shirt in his little fist.

Sam had a sudden thought. "Nicky, are you worried that Daddy will be gone again when you wake up?" she asked, stroking his hair again. Nick hesitated, but then nodded.

Jack let out a breath. "Nicky, I'll be here when you wake up, okay? I promise. I'm not going anywhere."

Nick just snuggled into him, wiping tears and snot all over Jack's shirt. Jack grimaced but just rubbed the little boy's back soothingly. "I'll hold you until you fall asleep, okay? But you have to close your eyes and try to go to sleep." Nick hesitated again, but eventually nodded. "We need to go get your pj's on and go potty first, though."

Sam saw the weariness in Jack's face and the wince of pain as he stood with Nick still in his arms. "You want me to take him?" she offered.

Jack shook his head. "It's okay. I think we need a bit of guy time, huh buddy?"

Sam smiled at her boys. "Okay. I'm gonna go turn the lights out on Ethan and clean up a bit."

Jack leaned forward and kissed her, Nick still clinging to him. "I'll be down in a minute. Say goodnight to Mommy, Nick."

Nick lifted his head from Jack's shoulder and held out an arm to her. She kissed him on the cheek and he wrapped his arm around her neck briefly. "'Night Mommy," he said, his voice still shaky from crying.

"Goodnight baby, I love you."

"Wuv you," he said, settling back down on Jack's shoulder.

Jack carried his son slowly up the stairs, every part of him aching. When they reached Nick's room, Jack put him down and got out pajamas for him. Nick was so tired he was like a like a limp doll as Jack pulled his arms and legs through the spaceship pajamas. Jack managed to get him to use the bathroom too, then took him back to his room to pick out a book. Nick took not one, but three books off his shelf and held them out, his big blue eyes pleading. "Can we read three, Daddy?"

Jack smiled and patted the bed next to him. "Sure, little man, but just for tonight, okay?"

Nick nodded happily and scrambled up on the bed next to his dad. Jack started reading, using different character voices as usual for the various people and animals featured in the picture books. Halfway through the second one however, Nick was sound asleep. Jack reached over and set the books on the night stand and kissed his little boy's hair. He tried to lay him on the bed so he could get up, but Nick grabbed his shirt and whimpered a little, even though he was still mostly asleep. Jack sighed and relaxed against the headboard, just closing his eyes for a second . . .

"Jack?" Sam whispered, touching his shoulder.

He started awake and rubbed his face. "What time is it?"

Sam raised her eyebrows. "You've been up here for half and hour."

Jack groaned softly. "I can't get up," he said looking down apologetically at Nick.

Sam smiled and kissed his cheek then leaned over him and carefully settled Nick on the bed.

"Now I think _you_ need to go to bed. You want me to read you a story?"

"Ha ha," Jack said getting off the bed slowly so he didn't wake Nick up. "Are all the Quinns settled in for the night?"

Sam walked quietly down the hall, Jack right behind her. "Yeah. I made Jonas take his antibiotics, too."

Jack shook his head. "Was he always this stubborn?"

"I think it must be something he got from you," Sam said playfully.

Sam was already ready for bed, so by the time Jack had changed into his pajamas she was almost asleep. He laid down next to her with a deep sigh as all his sore muscles were finally able to relax. Sam snuggled up to him and mumbled something.

"What?"

"I said 'I'm glad you're back'," she said a little louder.

He smiled and put his arms around her. "Yeah, me too."


	18. Wucky Charms and Phone Calls

When Sam woke up that morning, even before opening her eyes, a warmth settled over her. She wasn't sure why at first, but then her mind caught up to her senses and she realized it was because Jack was home, and he was snoring softly right next to her. She opened her eyes slowly, and saw not the gray-haired man she'd expected, but a little blond-haired boy. Nick had apparently cuddled up between them sometime in the night. Sam sighed but she couldn't help the small smile on her face as she watched Jack and Nick breathing in almost perfect tandem, Nick curled up against Jack's chest. They normally didn't allow Nick to sleep in their room, but Sam decided she could let it go this time. She knew the little boy was still worried about his dad disappearing again, so she just kissed his sandy hair gently and got out of bed slowly so she didn't wake them.

After brushing her teeth, she came back into the bedroom. Jack and Nick were still asleep, their positions mirroring each other. They were both on their sides with one hand resting on the pillow by their head, mouths slightly open. Sam smiled and couldn't resist grabbing the camera for a picture, hoping it wouldn't wake them up. She took the picture and looked at it on the little screen with satisfaction. They were so cute. Suddenly, the thought hit her that she hadn't taken any pictures of the Quinns.

A sudden wave of sadness came over her at the thought that Jonas and his three children might be leaving them soon. She gripped the camera tighter and headed downstairs. If she left it out on the counter she'd remember to get some pictures of them.

She walked down the stairs softly in her bare feet, but stopped at the bottom as she caught sight of Jonas, still asleep on the couch with all three of his kids cuddled up with him. Elsie was curled at his feet, and the twins were practically on top of each other, squished between Jonas and the back of the couch. She grinned and took several more pictures.

Then she thought of Ethan and Sophie and wished they could be cuddled up with _their_ daddy right now. Searching her brain for a way to get them to see Daniel, she decided that when Jack woke up, she would ask him to talk to General Landry about it.

Sure that Jack would be able to convince his old friend to let the kids see their dad, she headed into the kitchen and started the coffee. As she reached up into the cupboard for a mug, she heard a soft sound behind her and turned. Ethan stood rubbing his eyes in the doorway, his large book cradled in one arm.

"Oh, Ethan, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?" she asked softly.

He shook his head and looked at her, his brow furrowed. "I couldn't sleep," he admitted.

Sam turned and leaned against the counter so she was facing him fully. "Are you worried about your dad, kiddo?"

The boy looked down, biting his lip. "I just wanna see him," he said, his voice trembling slightly.

Sam stepped forward and drew him into a gentle hug. "I'm going to ask Uncle Jack to talk to the general today, okay? I want you to be able to see him too."

He looked up at her, pulling back. "We might go today?"

Sam winced slightly; she hadn't wanted to get his hopes up. "Maybe," she said carefully.

Ethan nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Aunt Sam." He gave her a quick hug and trotted over to sit at the table, opening the book.

Sam went back to the counter, poured herself coffee and came to sit next to Ethan, smiling at the familiar way his head was bent over the text. As she stirred the coffee he looked up at her.

"Can I try some?" he asked, looking at the coffee.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Uh . . . you should probably wait until you're a little older," she said, smiling a little at the eight-year-old's request.

He shrugged. "Why? It doesn't have alcohol or anything, right?"

Sam wasn't sure how to answer that. "Well, no, but it has a lot of caffeine and it's not especially good for you."

He regarded her carefully with his deep blue eyes. "Dad drinks it all the time," he reasoned.

Sam smiled. "He's an adult, though."

"So just let me try a _little _bit," Ethan said.

Sam really couldn't think of a good argument for that. "Okay," she said getting up. "A _little_ bit. With milk."

Ethan smiled, his bright blue eyes watching as she poured an inch of coffee into another mug.

"Move your book so you don't spill on it," Sam said, coming back to the table. He pushed the book to the side and looked up expectantly. Sam grinned and placed the cup in front of him. "Careful, it's hot," she cautioned, sitting back down at the table.

Ethan took a careful sip of the dark liquid and immediately wrinkled his nose and pushed the cup away. "That's disgusting!" he exclaimed.

Sam couldn't help the laughter from bubbling out of her. "I guess it's an acquired taste," she said.

Ethan was still staring at the mug with open distaste. "Can I have some juice?" he finally asked.

Sam chuckled again and got up to get him a kid-friendly beverage, ruffling his hair on the way. "How did Sophie do last night?" she asked, deciding a change of subject was in order.

He sighed dramatically. "She had a bad dream and came and got in my bed."

Sam set the juice in front of him. "You could've come and got me."

He shrugged and took a big gulp of juice. "It's okay, she doesn't take up much room."

Sam smiled at him. "You're a good brother, Ethan."

He shrugged again and pulled his book back in front of him.

"Mommy, Mommy!"

Sam looked up just in time to see Nick skid into the kitchen, his socks unable to gain purchase on the smooth floor. His feet went out from under him and he landed heavily on his rear-end.

Sam jumped up and went over to him. "Nicky! You okay?"

He looked a little shell-shocked, but nodded, remembering his original purpose in running into the kitchen. "Are we gonna have the party today?" he asked, jumping up. "With the pool and the cousins and cake and Uncle Teal'c?"

"Slow down, buddy, and use your quiet voice. Uncle Jonas and the kids are asleep in the living room."

Nick took a deep breath. "Are we gonna have the party today?" he asked in a loud whisper.

"Let's wait to have the party until Uncle Daniel can come," Sam said, attempting to smooth down the little boy's light hair.

"Tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

"It's going to be a little while, sweetheart."

Nick folded his arms across his chest stubbornly. "I wanna have the party today!"

Sam gave him warning look. "Don't you want Uncle Daniel to be able to come and tell you stories?"

He thought for a minute. "Okay. Can we pway in the pool today?"

Sam grinned at him and kissed his nose. "We can probably do that."

Nick grinned and ran over to Ethan. "Efan, you wanna pway in the pool with me?" he asked, forgetting his quiet voice again.

Ethan looked down at him. "Sure," he said before turning back to his book.

"Yay! I'm gonna go find Sophie!" Nick said.

Sam caught him before he could run through the living room and settled him on her hip. "Whoa, there. Let's have some breakfast first, okay? Sophie's still sleeping."

"Wucky Charms?" he asked hopefully.

"Yep! Today is Saturday," Sam said getting the box down from the cupboard.

"Yay! Wucky Charms day!" Nick shouted.

Sam winced, sure that Nick had just woken everyone in the house up with that outburst. "Be quiet, Nicky!"

"Sorry, Mommy," he whispered.

Sam just shook her head and poured him a bowl of cereal. "You want Lucky Charms, Ethan?"

"Sure," Ethan answered without looking up.

Sam got another bowl of cereal ready and sat Nick down at the table. "Eat the cereal too, not just the marshmallows, mister," she said, handing him his little plastic spoon. "And lean over the bowl, okay?"

As Sam was pouring a bowl of Corn Flakes for herself, she heard someone else come into the kitchen.

"Hi, Elsie!" Nick shouted. "Mommy! Elsie wants Wucky Charms, too!"

Sam turned around just in time to Nick spill a spoonful of cereal down his shirt. "Nicky, lean over the bowl, remember?" she said, grabbing a paper towel. "And good morning, Elsie. You want to try some cereal?" Sam said, sopping up the milk on Nick's shirt.

Elsie nodded and came and sat by Nick. "We're gonna pway in the pool today, Elsie!" Nick said, shoving another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

Elsie nodded. "We can show my daddy," she said, her eyes lighting up.

Sam smiled as she put another bowl of cereal in front of the little girl. "It'll be fun to have your daddy here, huh."

Elsie nodded excitedly, then her eyes went over to Ethan. "Do you get to go to school today, Ethan?" she asked a little shyly.

"Nope," he said, glancing up from his book. "Today's Saturday."

"Can we pway school today, Mommy?" Nick asked.

"Sure," Sam said, sitting down with her own bowl of cereal.

Sophie came into the kitchen next, followed by the twins and Jonas, and finally Jack. They all had cereal, and between the three adults, they managed to get all the kids dressed and ready for the day. The twins were dragging Jonas through the house, showing him everything from Nick's lightsabers to how the toilets flushed, Ethan and Elsie were both reading on the couch and Nick and Sophie were parading around making up a song about swimming pools when the phone rang.

Sam was in the kitchen cleaning up the breakfast mess and grabbed it from the counter. "Hello?"

"Hello, Sam."

"Hey, Vala, how's it going over there?"

She didn't answer for a minute and worry started gnawing at Sam's stomach. "Vala?"

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice trembling. "They just took Daniel back into surgery."

Sam bit her lip. "Why? What's the matter?"

"He's still bleeding internally. I . . . I almost lost him last night," Vala said, her voice choking on her tears.

Sam sank against the counter. "Oh, Vala. Do you want me to come over? Is he going to be okay?"

"They said he should be fine," Vala said, getting her emotions under control somewhat. "He should be done with the surgery in about an hour." She paused. "Sam, he really wants to see the kids."

"I know, they want to see him, too. I'm going to have Jack talk to the general, okay? I'm hoping they'll be able to come in today."

"Really? Oh, Sam, that would be perfect. Are they doing okay?"

"Yeah, they had a little trouble sleeping last night, but they're fine. Oh, have you talked to Cam?"

"He was here earlier this morning but I think he's helping on Kelowna. The Deadalus should be there by now and I think he said he was going to ride back on it. Audry here's too, so Cassie and Andrew must have the kids."

"Okay, well, hang in there and I'll call you when I know if the Ethan and Sophie can come in or not," Sam said, putting as much comfort in her voice as possible.

"Thank you, Sam. Give them a kiss for me."

"I will. Talk to you in a bit."

"'Bye."

"'Bye."

Sam hung up the phone and saw Jack watching her from the doorway.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

Sam bit her lip. "They just took Daniel back into surgery."

Jack stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. "What? Is he okay?"

Sam nodded, though the worry was still settled in the pit of her stomach. "Vala said he'd be fine." She looked up into his face. "Jack, will you call-"

"Way ahead of ya," he said, a smile spreading across his face. "Ethan asked me to call the general."

"What'd he say?" Sam asked, almost fearing the answer.

Jack's smile grew. "He said it'd be fine."

Sam grinned and hugged him tightly. "When can they go?"

Jack put his arms around her and laid his cheek on her hair. "Hank said anytime this afternoon'll be fine. Only Ethan, Sophie, and one of us, though."

Sam nodded against his shoulder. "Did you tell them yet?"

"Nope. I just got off the phone."

Sam pulled back and smiled at him. "Thank you."

He smiled back, then turned to the doorway. "Ethan! Sophie! C'mere!" he called.

They heard the pounding of feet and Ethan skidded into the kitchen a little breathlessly, his eyes bright and hopeful. Sophie was right behind him, and Nick followed her curiously.

"Can we go?" Ethan asked, looking at Jack.

"Well . . ." Jack said slowly, teasing them. "Hank said . . ."

"You can go," Sam said, unable to endure the nervous looks on the little one's faces any longer.

Ethan's face split into a big grin and Sophie hugged her brother with a little shout of joy.

"When do we get to go?" Ethan asked.

"This afternoon," Sam answered.

Sophie went over to her. "After lunch?"

"Yep, after lunch. Do you want to call your mommy and tell her?"

"Yeah!" Sophie said, jumping up and down.

"Daddy, I wanna go see Uncle Daniel, too!" Nick said, feeling left out from the excitement.

"Sorry, little man. Only Ethan and Sophie can go," Jack said, ruffling the little boy's hair.

"'Cause Uncle Daniel is only their daddy?" Nick clarified.

"Yep. Uncle Daniel will get to come home soon, and then you can play with him then, okay?"

Nick nodded and turned his attention back to Sophie, who was talking on the phone.

"Hi, Mommy!" she said brightly.

"Hi, sweetheart, what's up?"

"Guess what, Mommy? Me and Ethan get to come see Daddy today!"

"Really, baby? Did Uncle Jack say so?"

"Yup! He called the general and everything!"

"Daddy will be so happy! Do you know when you're coming, sweetheart?"

"After lunch! Can I tell Daddy?"

Vala hesitated. "Daddy's sleeping right now, honey. When he wakes up I'll call you and you can tell him, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy. I love you!"

"I love you too, baby. Can I talk to Aunt Sam really quick?"

Sophie handed the phone off to Sam. "Mommy wants to talk to you," she said.

Sam smiled at the little girl and took the phone. "Hey, Vala."

"Really, Sam? They can come?"

"Yeah, one of us will bring them over this afternoon."

"Daniel will be so excited. Thank Jack for me?"

"Of course. We'll see you later today."

"Okay. I'll call when he's out of surgery."

Sam said goodbye and hung up the phone, still grinning at Ethan and Sophie. "Your mom will call back when daddy's awake so you can tell him, okay?"

"Yay!" Sophie shouted, jumping up and down and then running to hug Sam around the knees. "We're going to see Daddy!"

* * *

Okay, so I know I haven't set things up real well in regards to Cam's family, and I just kind of threw Cassie in there, but I promise I'll flesh that out later, and you'll get to meet Cam's wife Audry, their four kids, and Cassie's husband Andrew. Thanks for reading!


	19. Argument and Injury

There's a couple little swear words in this one. Just so ya know.

* * *

The morning passed quickly at the O'Neill household. They got out the pool again, and while it was a little crowded with all six kids, they played well together and Sam and Jack spent a relaxing hour watching them from the porch and catching up with Jonas.

They had just finished filling Jonas in on all the changes SG-1 had gone through since they'd last seen him, and had fallen into a comfortable silence, when Jonas brought up his return to Kelowna.

"Do either of you have any idea when General Landry will let me get back to Kelowna?" he said, not quite looking at either of them directly.

Jack stared at him for a moment. "Are you serious?"

Jonas bit his lip and looked down. "Those people are counting on me, Jack."

"If they can't get along without you for a few days -"

"Jack," Sam said, hearing the frustration in his voice and not wanting the two men to get in an argument.

Jack bit back the rest of his sentence and clenched his jaw. "What do you think you can do for them, Jonas? We've already tried. _You've _already tried."

Jonas turned to face him, his eyes flashing. "What am I supposed to do? Stay here for the rest of my life and forget about the innocent people who are going to get killed when terrorist groups completely take over the planet?"

"Of course not, Jonas," Sam interjected before Jack could say anything. "We just want you to consider staying here with your kids until things have calmed down and we've figured out how to best help your people. You aren't going to accomplish anything there right now."

Jonas let out a long, slow breath. "You can't know that. I have to try again."

"Why?" Jack exploded. "Why the hell is it your responsibility anyway? You didn't ask for this, Jonas, and you don't deserve it and neither do your kids."

"Why? Why is it my responsibility?" Jonas said, his eyes filling with anger again. "Because I promised her!"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, clearly trying hard to control his frustration.

Jonas made no such attempt. "Kianna!" he cried. "I promised Kianna I'd make Kelowna a place the kids could grow up safe!"

A heavy silence settled over them. Jack and Jonas stepped away from each other and Jack rubbed a hand over his face. Sam drew in a somewhat shaky breath and looked toward the kids as Jonas turned and went inside the house without a word. All six of the kids had frozen in the pool and were staring wide-eyed at the adults on the porch.

She sighed just as Jack swore under his breath and she laid a hand on his arm before beckoning to the kids. "C'mon guys. I think it's time to go inside."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, they all obediently came out of the pool without a word and headed for the porch, casting nervous glances at Jack who had turned away from everyone. Sam led them inside and had them stand in the kitchen while she went upstairs to grab towels for them. She looked around for Jonas, but didn't see him and a pang of anxiety hit her at the realization that he had left the house. She went into Nick's bedroom and looked out the window. She caught sight of Jonas walking away from the house, down the sidewalk and she was suddenly torn between Jack out on the porch, the kids standing dripping in the kitchen, and going after Jonas, who still had a pretty bad injury and infection. A sudden crash from downstairs decided for her however; Jonas and Jack could take care of themselves for the moment, the kids needed her the most right now. She grabbed a stack of towels from the hall closet and hurried down to see what had been broken.

She reached the bottom of the stairs just as Nick started to scream, and she quickened her step, able to tell that it was his hurt cry. She turned the corner into the kitchen and saw Nick and Sophie both sitting on the floor next to an overturned kitchen chair, Sophie starting up wails of her own. She dropped the towels and crouched next to them, looking them over for injuries. Seeing no blood or immediately apparent bruises, she sat on the floor and gathered them both onto her lap, wet swimming suits and all, and looked up at the other kids who were hovering around the scene of the accident, concern on all their little faces.

"What happened?" she asked, directing the question mostly toward Ethan.

He looked at the four-year-olds in Sam's lap, who were already starting to calm down, more scared than hurt. "The phone rang," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "They both wanted to answer and . . ." he shrugged. "The chair wasn't big enough." He frowned deeply, still looking at his little sister and cousin. "I'm sorry, Aunt Sam, I should've been watching them better."

She smiled at him, hoping her weariness didn't show through. "It's not your fault, Ethan. I think they're both okay anyway." She dropped her head down to rest on Nick's damp, blond hair and sighed. "And the day started out so well," she muttered to herself.

"Sam?"

She looked up to find the Quinns staring at her with their wide, blue eyes, shivering slightly in their wet swimming suits. It was Elsie who had spoken, of course, and Sam had an idea about what she was going to ask. "What, honey?"

"Where'd my daddy go?"

Sam sighed again, not sure how to answer that question at all. "He'll be back soon, Els. How about we get dried off and then have some lunch?"

Elsie didn't look convinced, but to Sam's relief she let the matter drop for the moment. "Ethan, will you grab those towels over there?" she asked, looking toward the forgotten pile.

He nodded and handed her two, while Elsie helped the twins get wrapped up in theirs before cuddling up in one herself. Sam shifted the still sniffling Nick and Sophie off her lap and wrapped them in the towels, looking again for any bruises they might have sustained. She stood, with plans to head upstairs for clothing, but Nick and Sophie attached themselves to her legs, and the other kids crowded in close as well, for warmth or comfort, Sam wasn't sure which.

"C'mon, guys," she said softly, letting her hands drop to stroke Nick's and Sophie's hair. "Let's go upstairs and get some clothes, and then we'll have lunch."

Sophie pulled away a bit and looked up at her, her large eyes still bright with tears. "And then we can go see Daddy?"

Sam smiled. "And then you can go see your daddy."

Sophie grinned and wiped her eyes before racing upstairs for her clothes, Ethan not far behind her. Sam realized the phone call that had caused the incident was probably Vala, calling to tell them Daniel was out of surgery and awake. She glanced at the phone but decided to get the kids dressed and warm before trying to do anything else. Before herding Nick and the Quinns upstairs, she glanced out the kitchen window at Jack, who was still leaning against the porch railing, his shoulders tense. She sighed and nudged the kids toward the stairs.

By the time all the kids were dried off and dressed, the phone had rung again, and Sam saw that it had been Vala both times. She felt a twinge of guilt, knowing that Vala would be a little concerned that she hadn't answered. She got the kids all seated at the table and got out grapes and crackers for them to snack on while she called Vala back and made them all PB&Js.

With the kids happily munching away, she dialed Vala's cell and held the phone between her ear and shoulder, leaving her hands free to make the sandwiches. Vala answered almost immediately.

"Samantha? Where were you?"

Sam could hear the worry in her voice and reassured her quickly. "Sorry, Vala. The kids were playing in the pool and I was trying to get everyone dried off and dressed when you called." She didn't tell her friend about the other issues of the morning, knowing it wasn't what she needed at the moment.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just a little . . . unstable at the moment."

Sam heard the smile behind her words and didn't worry too much. "How's Daniel?"

She sighed a tiny sigh. "The surgery went perfectly, and he's awake now, but Dr. Lam says it'll be at least two weeks before he can come home."

Sam frowned. That was going to be tough on Vala and the kids, and she knew it also meant Ethan and Sophie might be staying with her and Jack for a while. "We can take care of the kids for as long as you need."

"Thank you, Sam," Vala said. Sam caught the muffled sound of Daniel's voice in the background and smiled. She heard Vala's voice, also muffled, and not directed at her. Then Vala brought the phone back to her mouth, and Sam could hear her clearly again. "Are the kids there? I want them to tell Daniel the news."

Sam turned and looked at the kids at the table. Sophie and Nick were throwing grapes at each other, Ethan was reading his large book again, Kaden had climbed up on the table and was making a mess with the crackers, Joseph was standing on his chair trying to follow his twin's example, and Elsie was busy trying to get them to sit down. Sam resisted the urge to scream that she'd only been turned away from them for two minutes and moved over to the table, still talking to Vala. "Hold on, they're right here." She pulled Kaden off the table in a shower of cracker crumbs. "Nick, Sophie, stop that! Look at all the grapes on the floor!"

The two of them looked up sheepishly, and Ethan, not missing anything despite the appearance of total absorption in his book, looked at Sam. "Is that my mom? Can we talk to Dad?"

"Yeah, you guys need to tell him something."

Sophie hopped off her chair with a giggle, going on tiptoes to avoid squishing grapes with her bare feet and wrapped her arms around Sam's leg. "I get to tell Daddy!"

Ethan came around the table. "You always get what you want. I want to tell him!"

Sophie stuck her tongue out at her brother and before it could escalate any further, Sam intervened. "I'll put it on speaker and you guys can both tell him, ok? Vala? Is Daniel ready?"

"I'm giving him the phone right now," Vala said, her grin evident in her voice.

Sam held the phone down to Ethan and Sophie's level and they both leaned in to talk.

"Daddy?" Sophie said, making sure he could hear them.

"Hi, sweetheart," Daniel replied, and Sam winced at how hoarse and exhausted he sounded.

"We have something to tell you, Dad," Ethan added, his face glowing.

"Hey, buddy, what's up?"

"We're gonna come visit you today!" both siblings shouted into the phone.

"Really? You guys are coming today?" Sam was relieved to hear a grin in his voice.

"Yeah," Ethan said. "Uncle Jack called General Landry and everything."

"When are you coming?"

"After lunch!" Sophie promptly replied, bouncing in excitement.

"I can't wait," Daniel replied.

"Okay," Sam said, lifting the phone back up. "We're going to let you rest, Daniel. We'll see you in an hour or so."

"Thanks, Sam. Thank Jack, too."

"Anytime, Daniel," she said with a smile. "See you in a bit."

She hung up the phone and smiled at Ethan and Sophie. "Okay, guys. Eat fast and stop making messes so you can go see your daddy."

They nodded, Sophie giving her another happy hug around the knees and went back to the table, which Kaden and Joseph were now under, retrieving and eating the grapes Sophie and Nick had dropped. Sam shook her head and decided to leave them to it. It wouldn't hurt them. She turned back to the sandwiches with apprehension, realizing that if the little ones couldn't handle grapes and crackers without making a mess, everyone was going to be ridiculously sticky by the end of lunch time.

She gave them the sandwiches anyway, and went outside to talk to Jack, telling Ethan and Elsie to try and keep an eye on the younger ones for a few minutes.

Jack heard her come out and turned toward her, not quite meeting her eyes.

"You okay?" she asked, knowing now was not the time for the lecture about keeping his cool he probably deserved. The truth was, she felt just as frustrated with Jonas as he did, she just had a little more self-control.

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I just . . . I don't know. Where'd Jonas go?"

Sam shrugged and moved to stand next to him, leaning against the railing. "I'm not sure. He left, and I didn't see where he was going."

"He left? Damn."

She took his hand and squeezed slightly. "He'll be back. Can you take Ethan and Sophie to go see Daniel?"

He looked at her. "That's all you're going to say about it? No 'This is your fault you know, Jack, way to chase him away' speech?"

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm too tired. Maybe tomorrow if you want."

He grinned back and kissed her lips. "How about I say sorry now and we forget the lecture?"

She wrapped her arms around him. "Apology accepted, but only if you come help me clean up six kids who are very sticky by now."

He hugged her back. "Deal."


	20. A Day At the Base

Jack and Sam got the kids all cleaned up, which was not an easy task, especially since Sophie was bouncing off the walls in anticipation, and Ethan wasn't much better. When Jack finally told them to get out to the car, Ethan ran out the door with only one shoe on and they had to go back. He finally got the two of them buckled safely in the back, Sophie using Nick's booster seat. Jack waved to Sam and the kids as he pulled out of the driveway, hoping Nick would get over his disappointment at not being allowed to go with his cousins. His little boy was still sitting on Sam's hip and crying as they went back inside, and Jack suspected his tears had more to do with Jack leaving again than not being allowed to go to the base. As he pulled out of the driveway, he looked down the street, hoping to see Jonas. He was fairly certain the man would return soon, and Sam didn't seem too concerned so he decided not to worry about it either.

"Ethan! Stop!" Sophie suddenly screamed from the backseat.

Jack looked in the rear view mirror at the two kids. "What's going on back there?"

"I didn't do anything! She tried to take my book!" Ethan protested.

"Did not! And he poked me, really hard!" Sophie retorted.

"Okay, guys, don't touch each other for the rest of the drive or I'll turn around and you won't get to visit your dad," Jack said. "Ethan, why did you even bring that thing?" he asked, referring to the large book Ethan had open in his lap.

Ethan shrugged and glared at his sister. "I dunno."

Jack shook his head, turning his attention back to the road. Ethan and Sophie were good kids, they just didn't get along with each other. They were too different, Jack supposed. Where Ethan was mostly quiet and reserved, Sophie bordered on the flamboyant, and, being siblings, they knew exactly how to get on each other's nerves. It made Jack glad he and Sam only had Nick to worry about.

"Uncle Jack, Ethan stucked his tongue out at me!"

Jack decided ignoring them would be the best course of action, and turned on the radio loud enough to drown them out. They seemed to get the hint and sat in sulky silence until the old Queen classic "We Will Rock You" came on and Sophie began to sing along. Jack listened in surprise. The little girl knew every word. He smiled and turned the radio down a little to better hear the four-year-old singing. He was glad Vala was properly educating the kids as far as music went; he was sure it wasn't Daniel.

They pulled into Jack's reserved parking space at the base a few minutes later. Jack turned the car off and turned in his seat to address the siblings in the back. "Listen, kiddos, you have to stay right with me because there's a lot of people here right now, and you can't be getting in the way. Got it?"

Ethan gave him a quick nod and unbuckled his seatbelt, jumping out of the car with his book tucked under one arm.

Jack wondered if the kid had even heard him, but Ethan seemed to be staying by the car, even though he was bouncing from foot to foot, eager to get inside. Jack opened his door and helped Sophie unbuckle her belt, and lifted her into his arms. He didn't want to take any chances, and she didn't seem to mind for the moment. He held out his hand to Ethan. "C'mon, pal." Ethan took his hand and they walked into the mountain together.

Jack had been right. There were many people inside the base. Besides all the refugees from Kelowna, extra medical personnel had been called in, and they appeared to be in the process of transferring some of the injured to the army hospital a few miles away. By pure chance, he ran into Dr. Lam and was able to ask her where Daniel was. He was relieved to hear that Daniel was in one of the isolation rooms since he'd been one of the most critically injured. It would be be much quieter and calmer in there, and easier to keep track of the kids. As it was, his earlier warning to stay close wasn't actually necessary. Sophie had both arms wrapped around his neck and Ethan was clinging to his hand tightly, both of them nervous about all the people rushing around.

They finally made it to Daniel's iso room, and Vala's face lit up as they came through the door. Jack set Sophie down and both kids ran to hug her, but kept their eyes on the bed behind her. Vala hugged them until they squirmed to be let go, and then all four of them approached the bed, Jack hanging back a little.

He had been hoping Daniel wouldn't look too bad, but shrapnel from the explosion had caused numerous small cuts on his face on top of the bruises, and a oxygen catheter was in his nose, along with several other wires and tubes coming from his chest and arms. Plus, Daniel always looked strange to him without his glasses. He appeared to be sleeping at the moment, and Jack could see the kids' apprehension.

Vala touched his arm gently just as Sophie whispered, "Daddy?"

Daniel's eyes opened slowly, and he turned his head toward the sound of her voice. "Sophie?" His eyes took a moment to focus, and he as he caught sight of his whole family, he managed a smile. "Hey, guys. Jack."

As if released by his voice, Ethan and Sophie both leaped forward and tried to get their arms around him. Unfortunately, Daniel's body wasn't ready to handle two small children jumping at him, and at Vala's shout and his hiss of pain, they leaped back.

"Sorry, Dad!" Ethan said immediately, biting his lip.

Sophie looked at him, her large, dark eyes filling with tears. "I didn't mean to, Daddy."

"No, no it's okay. I know," he said. Jack could tell he was trying not to show how much pain he was in.

Sophie started to cry. "I hurt you, Daddy?"

He reached out and his trembling fingers brushed her cheek. "No, baby." His voice cracked. "I want to hold you, I really do, I just . . . I can't right now, sweetheart."

Jack glanced at Vala and saw she was trying to hold back tears. She dropped a hand to the top of Sophie's head and stroked her hair. "Why don't you just hold Daddy's hand?" she suggested, her voice thick with emotion.

Sophie gladly acquiesced, taking his hand in both of hers, careful not to touch the IV, and Ethan ran around to the other side of the bed to hold his father's other hand.

Daniel smiled at them and squeezed back as best he could. "Why don't you guys tell me what you've been doing at Uncle Jack's house?"

As the kids launched into descriptions of their recent activities, constantly interrupting each other, Vala laid a hand on Jack's arm. "Thank you, General," she said, kissing his cheek with a smile.

Jack drew her into a brief, one-armed hug. "Least I could do."

Just then, someone knocked on the isolation room door, but before Vala could move to open it, someone entered.

"Audry!" Vala exclaimed, rushing to hug the head nurse of the SGC and Cam Mitchell's wife.

"Hey, Vala," the petite brunette said, hugging her friend back. "Jack, good to see you!"

She extended her hand and Jack gave it a hearty shake. "Good to see you, too. How's your thirteen kids?"

She smacked his arm and gave him a mock glare. "There's only four, and that's all there's going to be, believe me."

He smiled back; his jokes about the Mitchells' rambunctious children never got old to him. It was just that they'd had so many so close, and he couldn't help himself. Four kids in five years was something to be teased about, he felt.

"Where's Sam and Nicky?" she asked, looking around.

"Sam's entertaining the Quinns and it was hard enough to get two kids in here. Your crew with Cass?"

"Yep, she and Andrew have been a huge help this week with both Cam and me in and out. Did you say Quinns? As in Jonas Quinn?"

"That's the guy. You filled in on the Kelowna situation?"

She nodded. "I should've known Jonas and his kids would end up at your house. You're friends from way back, right?"

"You could say that. It didn't start out as a very friendly friendship," he said, glancing at Daniel.

Audry nodded, a small smile on her face. "Cam told me _all _about that mission report. It's one of his favorites." She continued past Jack to Daniel's bed and crouched down next to Sophie, giving her a quick hug. "Hey, kiddo."

Sophie smiled at her. "Hi, Aunt Audry! Are you gonna make my daddy all better so he can come home?"

Audry stood, ruffling the little girl's hair. "We're certainly going to try, sweetheart." She looked across the bed at Ethan. "Hey, buddy. I see you're taking good care of the family, here."

He smiled, his chest swelling with pride. "Yep, I am."

She turned to the machine monitoring Daniel's vitals. "Looks pretty good, Daniel. How's the pain?" He hesitated, looking at the kids. Audry seemed to understand and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'll get you some more meds, okay?"

Daniel nodded, looking relieved. "Thanks, Audry."

"No problem. Hey, I'll come back and check your stitches a little later." She turned back to the kids. "Don't wear out your dad too much, okay?" she said, smiling at them.

They nodded solemnly, and Audry headed out, squeezing Vala's arm on the way. "I'll be right back with some more meds. Let me know if you guys need anything."

Vala thanked her, and turned her attention back to Daniel, but almost as soon as the door had shut behind Audry, it opened again, and General Landry himself walked in.

"Hank," Jack said, greeting the other general with a warm handshake. "Thanks again for the clearance."

Landry waved the thanks away. "I'm glad you're here, Jack. Colonel Mitchell is about to brief us from the Daedalus. It just arrived on Kelowna, and I'd rather you just see if for yourself instead of me having to call you later," he said with a half-smile.

Jack glanced back at Vala. "You guys okay for a little while?"

"We'll be fine," Vala assured him.

"Just come get me if you get sick of the rugrats. Hey, Daniel, hurry up and heal 'cause Nick wants to have a party."

Daniel smiled. "Tell him I'll try."

Jack lifted a hand in farewell and followed Landry out the door and up to the control room where the 'gate was already being dialed in from Kelowna. The wormhole established and a crackle of static came from the speakers in the control room.

"SGC, this is Colonel Mitchell. Come in."

Landry leaned toward the microphone and nodded at Walter to activate the comm. "We're here, Mitchell. How's it looking over there?"

"Pretty bad, sir. The terrorists seem to have control of all the settlements, and the Stargate. Most everyone else was able to evacuate in time, and we've beamed all our people and as many of the Kelownans as possible up to the Daedalus, but life support is pretty taxed."

Jack exchanged a look with Landry at the news that the Stargate was under enemy control.

Landry spoke through the comm again. "What would we be up against were we to direct an attack against the terrorists, Mitchell?"

Jack was a little surprised. Peaceful times across most of the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies allowed for them to use their resources, like the Daedalus, to run humanitarian missions, but it had been quite some time since they had launched any type of offensive action. Not that he didn't want the bomber threats to be eliminated . . .

"Their only weapons are crude explosives, sir, and as far as I can gather from the leaders here, they aren't a large group, just an extremely violent one. Basically, sir, with my teams and the Daedalus' help, I can take 'em down inside of three weeks," Mitchell said, and Jack could just picture the cocky grin on his face.

Landry smiled ruefully and glanced at Jack again. "Keep saving people for the moment, Colonel. I think we're going to need Mr. Quinn to collaborate with us about any kind of attack."

"Understood, sir. Next check-in same time, same place?"

Landry turned to Jack. "How early do you think Mr. Quinn can get here?"

Jack scratched his cheek, feeling guilty that he didn't have a good answer to that question since he'd chased Jonas away. "Let me tell him about it tonight and give him a little more time to recover from his injury, and I'll have him here by 0700 hours tomorrow."

Landry nodded and turned back to the comm. "Let's move it up to 0700 hours tomorrow, Mitchell."

"Yes, sir. Mitchell out."

The 'gate deactivated and Landry straightened up and looked at Jack. "You were there, Jack. What do you think about a military operation against the Kelownan terrorists?"

The sudden image of the caged children that he and Sam had seen upon first arriving at Kelowna came to his mind. They had been trapped under the rubble of the building the terrorists had destroyed, and all those little kids were likely dead by now, since the rescue teams hadn't been able to dig through all the heavy slabs of cement. He thought of Elsie and Kaden and Joseph, afraid to go back to their own planet. His eyes hardened. "I say let Mitchell go for it. Let him blow them off the face of the planet."


	21. Tears and Giggles

After Jack left and Sam had calmed Nick down from feeling left out from the trip to go see Daniel, she wasn't sure what to do with the kids. She really wanted to go make sure Jonas was alright – she kept imagining him passed out somewhere because of his injury – but didn't really feel up to taking all the kids on a walk. Usually, when it was just her and Jack and Nick at this time of day, they would read books together. She knew Elsie would enjoy it, but she wasn't sure if the twins would sit still. It was worth a shot.

She herded them upstairs into Nick's room and let them each pick out some books before going back down to get comfy on the couch. There was a brief moment of confusion and potential argument when the three boys all handed their books to her first, and then scrambled to crowd in her lap. With some careful maneuvering, Sam ended up with Nick and Kaden on her lap, and Joseph cuddled between her and Elsie on her left. It was rather difficult to hold the books so that Sam could see the words and all the kids could see the pictures, but they managed.

To Sam's surprise, all four kids sat through the entire stack of books they had brought down, and when they finished those, they remained quiet and relaxed. In fact, Sam realized, the twins were both sound asleep, and Nick and Elsie were looking rather drowsy themselves. They _had_ had an eventful day and late night the night before, but she really hadn't expected any of them to take a nap. Not that she was complaining.

When she closed the last book, Nick and Elsie stirred, looking up at her. Nick turned in her lap and looped his arms around her neck, nuzzling her shoulder. "I'm sweepy, Mommy."

That was a pretty rare thing for the little guy to admit, Sam thought with a smile. "Do you want to go lay down in your bed?"

He shook his head. "I want to stay here."

Sam put the book down and wrapped an arm around him. "Let's go put Kaden and Joseph in their bed and then maybe we can get some more books."

Nick reluctantly climbed off her lap with a yawn and started upstairs, presumably for more books. Elsie had hopped off the couch and was trying to lift Joseph into her arms.

Sam smiled at her attempts. "It's okay, Elsie, I'll get him. You can go with Nick and pick out more books, if you want."

Elsie let her brother slump back onto the couch, giving his head a quick kiss before following Nick upstairs, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Sam decided it would be best to only take one sleeping twin at a time and stood with Kaden in her arms, leaving Joseph asleep on the couch. She passed Nick's room on the way to the guest room, and glanced in to see that Nick and Elsie had become distracted with Nick's box of Legos, and were busily construction something, their heads bent close over their project.

She put Kaden down and returned with Joseph, laying the little boys side by side, marveling at how identical they were and also feeling a little proud she had learned to keep them apart.

As she headed back downstairs to do some work on her laptop when she heard the front door open. She hurried downstairs, hoping it was Jonas. She sighed with relief when she reached the door and found him standing next to it, looking a little embarrassed.

"Sam-"

"Jonas! Are you okay?" she asked hurrying over and glancing toward his wound which was still wrapped in bandages.

"I'm . . . sorry about . . . that. I just-"

She interrupted him. "It's fine, Jonas. I can't really say I know how you feel right now, but I do understand that this has been difficult."

He sighed heavily, but also managed a half-smile. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "You want something to eat?"

* * *

Jack felt his stomach growl and looked up at the clock. He blinked and looked again. That couldn't be right. There was no way he had been involved in discussions with Hank and other officers involved with the Kelowna situation for _four hours. _He checked his watch; it read 5:37, just like the clock.

Hank noticed him looking from his place at the head of the conference table and wrapped up his current sentence. "I think we've done enough for today, gentlemen. We'll reconvene with Colonel Mitchell and Mr. Quinn tomorrow morning."

As they all stood, Jack moved to speak to Hank. "I wasn't starting to look impatient or anything, was I?" he asked, smirking a little.

The other general chuckled. "Oh no, not at all, Jack," he replied with equal sarcasm. "I was just looking for an excuse to get out of here myself. I've been on this damn base for four straight days now, and I'm _more_ than ready to go home."

Jack smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "See you tomorrow, Hank."

With that, he headed down to Daniel's isolation room, surprised that Vala had not yet come to find him to take the kids home. He opened the door to the sound of crying, and hurried forward. Vala was sitting next to Daniel's bed with Sophie, the source of the crying, in her lap. Ethan was standing in front of them, a very sulky expression on his face as Vala spoke to him. She looked up as Jack came in and a clear look of relief swept across her face.

"What's going on, kids?" Jack asked, noticing that Daniel was asleep. If he could sleep through the racket Sophie was making, he must be on some pretty good drugs.

"Can you _please_ take these _children_ somewhere else?" Vala said, her voice shaky with barely contained emotions.

Jack lifted Sophie off her lap and drew Ethan close with one arm. "When was the last time you ate or slept, Vala?"

She rubbed her face, and he saw a glimmer of tears in her eyes. "I . . . I don't even know. I can't . . ." She trailed off and covered her face with her hand.

"How about we all go out and grab something to eat?" he suggested gently.

She shook her head and looked up at Daniel. "I don't want to leave him."

"He'll be fine for half-an-hour. It's you I'm worried about at the moment," he said.

"No, Jack. I'm not leaving him." He saw that spark of stubbornness in her eyes he recognized well by now and decided to drop the issue.

"Fine, just me and the kids. I'm having them send something for you from the commissary, though."

She hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "Thank you, Jack."

He laid a hand on her shoulder briefly before heading out with the kids. They were halfway down the hall when Ethan had to run back for his book, and Sophie continued to cry as they made their way through the base, though Jack suspected it had more to do with being removed from her parents than whatever trouble Ethan had caused previously. Ethan reached up to grab Jack's hand in silence, even though the halls were not nearly as busy as they had been when they'd first arrived.

Jack stopped at the commissary and asked one of the people behind the counter if they would make sure Vala got something to eat, and headed out of the base, eager to get the kids out of the mountain and into the fresh air. He had a feeling they needed it just as much as he did.

They finally reached the car, and Jack sat Sophie, still crying, on the hood of the car and bent down a little so his face was level with hers. Letting go of Ethan's hand he cupped her small face in both his palms. "You're okay, baby. What are you crying about?"

She sniffed, her small body shaking with repressed sobs. "E-Ethan . . . p-pushed me, a-and I hit my h-head!" The explanation taken care of, she began to cry again in earnest.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to, Sophie," he said, still holding her face in his hands. He looked toward Ethan to get a confirmation of his statement, but the boy was scowling at the pavement and didn't look up. Jack sighed and lifted Sophie back into his arms. "Dinner's up to you guys. If you stop being cranky, we can go somewhere fun, if not, we'll just go home."

Sophie looked up. "McDonald's?"

"Are you done crying?" She nodded, sniffing and gulping down sobs. "McDonald's okay with you, Ethan?"

He shrugged, his hands deep in his pockets. "Yeah."

"Off to see the wizard, then," Jack said with a sigh, unlocking the car. He helped Sophie get buckled and then followed Ethan around to the other side of the car, stopping him before he got in. "You okay, buddy?"

Ethan shrugged again, still not looking up from the ground.

Jack put a finger under his chin and lifted his head. "Something you want to talk about?"

Ethan shook his head, but Jack saw his eyes fill with tears. He decided it might not be a time for words and drew the boy into a hug. He rubbed Ethan's back gently and felt his arms tighten around his waist. "Everything's going to be okay, pal. I promise."

Ethan held on for a few more minutes before pulling away, wiping his eyes. "Dad looked really bad, Uncle Jack," he said looking up, his eyes filled with worry. "And Mom was all . . . weird."

Jack put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "She's worried about your dad just like you, buddy. It's gonna be tough for a while, but I promise it'll get better. Have I ever lied to you?"

A faint smile graced Ethan's face. "Well . . . yeah. All the time, actually."

Jack grinned and ruffled his hair. "That's called _teasing_, little man. I don't _lie._"

Ethan's smile grew wider. "Whatever you say, Uncle Jack."

Jack swatted at his head playfully. "Get in the car, kid."

Their drive to McDonald's was remarkably quiet besides the occasional sniff from Sophie. Both kids were understandably subdued, and sleepy as well. Sophie was nearly asleep by the time they got there, but their Happy Meals seemed to perk them up, and they were back to their normal squabbling by the time they were on the way home. As he pulled into the driveway, all Jack wanted to do was go to bed, but he knew he still had to help put the kids to bed and then brief Jonas on everything that had been discussed at the SGC.

He got the kids out of the car and opened the front door into chaos. His living room had been taken over by sheets and chairs that had presumably once been a fort. Elsie was sitting on the floor giggling uncontrollably, one of the twins was wrapped from head to toe in a sheet and bumping into things, laughing, and Jonas . . . Jonas was chasing the other twin on hands and knees. The little boy was laughing and squealing as his dad chased him making threatening growling sounds.

The kids were all laughing so hard that no one had heard Jack and Sophie and Ethan come in, so Jack walked forward, a smile growing on his face.

"Hey, guys," he said casually.

Jonas froze mid-crawl and looked up at him. To Jack's surprise, Elsie and the twins all jumped up and hugged him, Elsie chattering away, the twins still giggling. He ruffled their hair gently and turned his attention back to Jonas who was on his feet now, looking decidedly embarrassed.

"Um . . ." Jonas reached up to scratch the back of his head, and rested the other one on Elsie's head, who had run back to him. "Jack, I'm sorry. I-"

Jack stepped forward and clapped him on the uninjured arm. "Forget it, Jonas. We were both outta line, so . . . let's call it even, huh?"

Jonas nodded, and smiled. "Thanks, Jack."

"So," Jack said loudly, looking around the room. "Are my wife and kid buried in here somewhere?"

Jonas shook his head. "There was a little mishap. Nickolas-"

"Daddy!"

The small bundle of energy hit Jack's knees with the force of a train and he struggled to stay standing. "Hey there, buddy," he said, recovering and swinging his little boy up to his hip. Jack could see he'd been crying, his face was all red and a nasty bruise seemed to be forming on his temple. "What happened, little man?"

Sam followed their son at a more sedate pace and gave Jack a quick kiss. "He fell off the couch into a chair."

Nick nodded solemnly. "It hurted."

Jack chuckled and kissed the bruise gently. "Too much playing, huh?"

Nick gave him a funny look, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "Nuh uh. I need more pwaying, Daddy."

Jack laughed out loud and kissed the little boy again. "Sounds like a plan to me. Have you guys already eaten?"

Sam nodded, stroking Sophie's hair; the little girl had her arms wrapped around Sam's leg. "How was Daniel?"

Ethan moved close enough to Jack to bump his leg, and Jack knew he didn't appreciate the reminder about his dad's condition. He laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. "He was really happy to see the kids." He glanced down at Sophie and Ethan. "He's doing better but . . . it might be a while before he's back to normal."

Sam smiled sadly, lifting Sophie into her arms for a cuddle. "He'll be fine," she said brightly, trying to give the kids as much assurance as possible. "Hey guys, let's show Ethan and Sophie how we built the fort!"

Elsie, the twins, and Nick all started shouting in excitement at once, and Nick squirmed to be let down to join his cousins in the reconstruction of the fort. Jonas jumped in to help, since as soon as one kid got a sheet positioned, another kid would step on it and bring it down. It was an amusing spectacle, and Ethan and Sophie soon went over and started helping as well.

Sam moved over to Jack and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Did you and Jonas make up?"

"Yes, ma'am. When did he come back?"

She smiled up at him. "About as soon as you left."

Jack shrugged. "At least you weren't alone with _that_ crew all day," he said, looking on in amusement as Elsie tried to referee an impromptu game of tug-of-war the twins had initiated with one of the sheets.

Sam chuckled and snuggled closer to him. "I'm going to miss them, Jack," she said quietly.

He hugged her. "Me too. Speaking of which, we have a lot to talk about as soon as the kids are in bed."

She looked up, a faint look of alarm on her face. "What happened?"

"Nothing we didn't expect. I think they'll be able to go home," he said, glancing at the Quinn family. "But not anytime soon."

He could see the questions in her eyes, but she decided to drop it for the moment, and Jack knew she sensed his apprehension about talking about it in front of the kids.

"Well," he said, heading for the kitchen. "I'm thinking we're gonna need more chairs if we want a _truly_ awesome fort."

"You have a problem with ours?" Sam said, her hands going to her hips.

He grinned cheekily at her. "Of _course_ not. More kids should equal more chairs though, right?"

She shook her head and smiled at him. "I see you've been practicing your math."

Jack just caught Ethan's snort of laughter, even though the boy tried to hide it. "That's it, little man," he said, advancing toward the eight-year-old. "You're gonna pay for that one."

Ethan ducked behind the couch with a giggle, and Jack chased him, inspiring the other kids to do some running around of their own, collapsing the near-finished fort. Jonas threw his hands up and joined the chasing. Sam watched the two father's chase the kids around, praying no one would get hurt, and making sure to get lots of pictures.


	22. Going Home?

Sorry about the short chapter, but it just seemed like a good place to end it. I have the feeling the next one will be pretty long, so hopefully that will make up for it. :)

* * *

To the kids' delight, the three grown-ups spent the rest of the evening playing with them, the fort becoming a pirate ship, a secret base, and the city of Atlantis (which Ethan was currently fascinated with). As everyone started to tire, the pile of sheets and blankets became a secret cave, and all the little ones squished inside with a flashlight for a "campfire." Sam turned out the lights and Jonas told them a story. By the end, Nick and Sophie had drifted off, and Jack, Sam and Jonas started gathering them all up for bed.

Jack took Nick upstairs and Sam got Ethan and Sophie settled in the downstairs guest room again. After tucking Sophie in, she was surprised to see that Ethan wasn't reading his book, just laying in bed and staring at the ceiling. She went and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Hey, kiddo. You okay?"

"I'm fine," he said quickly, still staring straight up.

"I just wondered because you're not reading," she said, patting his arm.

He shrugged.

"Okay, buddy. You ready for lights out?"

He shrugged again, but as she turned out the light and started closing the door, he called out.

"Aunt Sam?"

She left the door open, letting light from the hallway illuminate the room, and stood by his bed.

"Yeah?"

"Will you _promise_ that Dad will be fine?"

Even in the dim light, she could see his lip trembling and sat back down, drawing him into her lap even though he didn't really fit anymore. "Did it scare you to see him today, Ethan?"

He had stiffened when she first scooted him onto her lap, but now he relaxed into her and nodded. "I couldn't even hug him," he whispered.

She wrapped both arms around him tightly, and laid her cheek against his hair. "I can't _promise_ you anything, sweetheart, but I do know that your dad has yet to encounter anything that could bring him down, and I'm sure you'll be able to hug him soon."

She could feel him trembling against her, and wished she could find a way to relieve his worry. She held him for a long time, stroking his hair and trying to think of something else to say, until she realized he had fallen asleep. She tucked him in and left the room, leaving the door open a crack so they could come get her easily if they needed to. Going back into the living room, she found Jack cleaning up the mess the fort had made, and she moved to help him.

He looked up. "They okay?"

She nodded. "They will be. Ethan's pretty worried."

Jack sighed. "Yeah, they were both shook up. I was a little, myself. He didn't look good, Sam."

"Maybe it wasn't the best idea to take them so soon."

Jack shook his head. "They all needed it. They'll be okay."

Sam nodded slowly, picking up another sheet. "Is Jonas still upstairs?"

"Yeah, the twins didn't seem too tired. He could be up there a while."

She smiled. "They took a nap today, and I swear they have twice as much energy _each_ as other kids. Well, excepting Nick maybe."

Jack chuckled, gathering as many sheets and blankets as possible into his arms. "He sure went out tonight. He started snoring even."

Sam laughed, gathering up the rest of the sheets and followed Jack to the laundry room. "Poor guy. You know what he told Jonas today?"

Jack shook his head, dumping the sheets in the corner.

Sam followed suit. "He said that Jonas could go back to his planet but he couldn't take Elsie and the twins because then he'd have no one to play with."

Jack snorted. "That's a bit of an exaggeration considering he plays with Ethan and Sophie and the Mitchells just about every day."

They headed back into the living room just as Jonas was coming down the stairs. He looked at Jack. "As much I hate to bring this up again, I have to know if you heard any-"

"Hank asked me to talk to you, actually," Jack said, clapping Jonas on his good shoulder and leading the way to the couch.

Sam, curious about Kelowna's situation as well, settled in between her husband and Jonas to listen. Jack rehearsed Cam's report, and Sam felt her heart sink at the news that the terrorists had completely taken over and had control of the Stargate. She glanced at Jonas, noticing the way his shoulders slumped and his fists clenched in his lap.

"Did he have any idea how many were killed?" he asked, his voice tight.

"I don't have a number, but Mitchell said they beamed as many people as possible to the Daedalus and he said that most everyone else got out of the settlements," Jack said.

Jonas nodded, but didn't look relieved. "So, what's next?"

Jack drew a breath and glanced at Sam. "That's what Hank wanted to talk to you about. Mitchell wants to launch an offensive on the terrorists. He says he can have them taken care of in three weeks."

Jonas looked momentarily stunned. "Three weeks? What about the settlement? He can't just blow a huge crater-"

"That's not the plan," Jack interrupted. "He says from the intelligence they've managed to gather from your people on the planet that it's a small group and he has the fire power and the man power to take care of them."

Jonas rubbed his face with one hand and sighed. "Why are you willing to do this for us?"

Jack shrugged. "We get bored without an arch-enemy. Mitchell's been itching for the chance to get back in some serious action."

Sam shook her head at him but couldn't keep the smile off her face. Jack's slightly sarcastic remark wasn't too far from the truth. Not that they wished they had another galactic superpower to fight, but sometimes . . . well, it wasn't quite like old times, that was for sure.

Jonas looked up at Jack, puzzled. "Colonel Mitchell wants to rid Kelowna of terrorists because he's bored?"

Jack smiled and shrugged again. "He's a pilot, what can I say?"

Sam jumped in. "Jonas, I think what Jack is _trying_ to say, is that we can't think of a better use of our resources than to help people who need it."

Jonas face slowly brightened. "So, he can really do it? Take care of the terrorists in three weeks?"

Jack nodded. "Yep. That's what it sounds like. Hank wants you to come tomorrow morning and talk to Mitchell about it."

"That means we could be going home within the month, then."

It was at that moment that Sam noticed Elsie at the top of the stairs. The little girl was dressed in one of Sam's old t-shirts as a nightgown, and rubbed her eyes sleepily. Sam wondered how long she had been there.

"Elsie?" she said, starting to get up.

Jack and Jonas looked toward the staircase as Elsie ran down them and hurled herself at her father. "I don't want to go home, Daddy!" she said, her eyes filling with tears.

Jonas looked up at Sam, completely confused at his daughter's words, and Sam sank back down on the couch, catching Elsie's eyes.

"You're not going home for a while, sweetheart. We still need to fix a lot of things," she said, a little reluctant to tell Jonas that his daughter preferred Earth to Kelowna.

"Elsie," Jonas said, stroking her hair. "Of course you want to go home. After we get rid of the bad people, we can build our house again and live there together."

She shook her head vehemently. "I want to stay with Sam and Jack forever!"

Sam saw the hurt on Jonas' face but didn't know how to help.

"Elsie," he said. "We have to go back to Kelowna because the people depend on me. I have to help them."

She looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "I don't care! I'm staying on Earth!" She jumped off Jonas' lap and ran to Sam, burying her face in Sam's shoulder.

Jonas, suddenly looking weary again, exhaled slowly through his nose before standing up. "I'm going to go get ready for bed."

"Jonas," Sam began, but stopped when he continued walking as if he hadn't heard her.

"Hank wants us there by 0700 tomorrow," Jack told Jonas quietly, standing as well.

Jonas nodded but didn't look back, just went down the hall into the bathroom and closed the door.

Jack sat back down next to Sam and Elsie. Sam didn't know what to say to the little girl, but she felt she ought to say something. "Elsie," she began with a sigh.

The little girl looked up at her. "I don't want to go, Sam. Please don't make me go back," she pleaded, her voice trembling.

"Elsie, you have to stay with your family, sweetheart. Your daddy needs you," Sam said, even though she wished the Quinns could stay on Earth almost as much as Elsie did.

Elsie started crying, her body shaking with quiet sobs. "I don't want to go back," she repeated.

Sam looked up at Jack for backup, but he just looked back, concern in his eyes. Sam decided to try a different approach. "You don't have to go back for a long time," she said, hugging the little girl tightly. "And I promise we'll come visit you all the time, and I bet you can even come visit us." Elsie started to quiet. "How about we read a couple more books and not worry about it tonight, okay?"

Elsie hugged Sam back, clinging to her. "Okay," she whispered.


	23. The BBQ

The next couple of weeks were rather hectic. Jack, Jonas, and sometimes Sam, spent a lot of time at the base planning and collaborating on the military operation on Kelowna. They decided that it was best for the Daedalus to return to Earth and unload its passengers, and then return with a full squadron of F-302 pilots and a fresh military contingent. Cam volunteered to lead the mission, of course, and reiterated that he'd be back within three weeks and the Kelownans would be able to return to their planet.

Daniel improved slowly but surely, and Vala started taking Ethan and Sophie home at night, relieving some of the burden on Jack and Sam, and allowing Jonas to move from the couch to the guest room.

Sam and Jack didn't see each other much because if one of them was at the SGC, the other was staying home with the kids, and Jonas insisted on being at the SGC almost constantly. The kids themselves handled the elevated level of chaos with their normal buoyancy, though tantrums and meltdowns were a little more common than usual.

Finally, eighteen days after the Kelowna offensive had been launched, Daniel was released from the infirmary and Nick got his party the following day, as promised. Cam was scheduled to return with the Daedalus in just five days, but everyone needed a break and they figured they could always have another party when he returned, so Sam and Jack hosted a BBQ, even though the weather was getting cool.

Teal'c was the first to arrive, and Nick immediately dragged him outside to set up the swimming pool, Elsie and the twins following them out, though the three of them were still a little apprehensive about the large man. The four kids soon burst back into the house, demanding to be helped into their swimsuits so, in the words of Nick, they could "pway in the swimming pool." Jonas and Jack ushered them upstairs as Sam went outside to greet the Jacksons, who had just arrived.

Daniel was still looking somewhat fragile as Vala helped him out of the car, but he smiled broadly at Sam as they walked toward the house.

"Daniel," she said, giving him a careful hug. "It's good to see you!"

He hugged her back. "You too, Sam." He chuckled dryly. "Been a while since I've had to stay in the infirmary that long. I'd forgotten how much I hate it."

"I hated it more," Vala said. "At least you got to have those lovely drugs."

"I hated it most!" Sophie chimed in, reaching up for Sam to hold her.

Ethan shook his head, clearly wondering how he had managed to be born into such a family. Sam picked Sophie up and ruffled Ethan's hair before leading them all inside. They barely got to the living room before Kaden ran past, stark naked, Jonas chasing him with a pair of swim trunks.

Sam couldn't help it, she started laughing and Vala joined her, which only encouraged the little boy. Jonas shot a glare at them over his shoulder before both he and Kaden disappeared down the hallway.

"One of the twins, I take it?" Daniel asked, looking after them in surprise.

Sam nodded, still giggling, and led him over to the couch so he could sit down. "That was Kaden."

"Aunt Sam? Where's Nick?" Sophie asked.

Sam set her down. "He's-"

Just then, what sounded like a herd of elephants came down the stairs. It turned out to be Nick and Joseph, who at least both had their swim trunks _on._

"-right there," Sam finished with a grin.

"Unca Daniel!" Nick cried, catching sight of him. He nearly collided with Sophie in his hurry to get to the couch, but Sam reached out and caught him before he could hurtle into Daniel at full speed.

"Remember what we talked about, Nicky?" she said, trying to make eye contact with him.

He finally looked toward her. "No huwting Unca Daniel."

Daniel chuckled. "It's okay, Sam, he can't hurt me too much."

Sam looked doubtful, but released her little boy. Nick scramble up onto the couch and wrapped both arms around his uncle.

"I misseded you!"

Daniel hugged him back. "I missed you too, buddy."

Nick let go and sat down in Daniel's lap. "Can I see your owie?" he asked reverently.

"Nick-" Sam began, ready to distract him to get him to leave Daniel alone.

But Daniel smiled and tickled the little boy, making him giggle. "It's all wrapped up so you can't see it."

Nick nodded wisely. "Wike a bandaid?"

"Pretty much," Daniel said, tickling him again.

Sam heard the back door open and close, and Teal'c came into the room. He smiled and crossed the room to place a hand on Daniel's shoulder, preventing him from trying to get up. "Daniel Jackson, I am most pleased to see you well."

"Thanks, Teal'c," Daniel said, smiling.

Teal'c turned to Nick. "The swimming pool is full, young Nickolas."

"Yay!" the little boy cried, jumping off Daniel's lap and racing toward the back door. Joseph followed him, and Kaden reappeared fully dressed in time to catch up with them. Sophie started to follow too, but Vala caught her by the hand.

"Swimming suit first!" she said, leading her little girl toward the bag they'd brought containing the kids' swimming paraphernalia.

As Vala headed upstairs to help Sophie change, Jack headed down with Elsie in tow. Vala took a look at the little girl and then looked at Jack.

"What'd you do to her?"

Elsie had her swimsuit on properly, but her hair was in complete disarray. Jack shrugged helplessly and held up a hair tie. "She said I had to put it up so she could play in the pool."

Vala rolled her eyes and took the tie from him, sweeping Elsie's hair into a ponytail deftly. "See? Not hard at all," she said, unable to resist teasing Jack.

"Of course not," Jack grumbled, continuing down the stairs with the little girl.

Sam smiled at him. "I wondered what was taking so long."

Jack chose not to respond.

Sam shook her head and addressed Elsie. "The boys and your dad are outside, Els."

The little girl nodded, and gave Jack's hand a consolatory pat before heading out to join her "cousins."

"Well," Jack said, looking around at Sam, Teal'c, Daniel, and Ethan who were the only ones remaining in the living room. "I guess I better go fire up the ol' grill."

"I will assist you, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"Thanks, T. Hey, Ethan, aren't you gonna come play with the other kids?"

Ethan looked up from beside Daniel, where he had gotten comfortable with his book, and shook his head.

"Okay, buddy," Jack said, smiling at his oldest nephew. Jack and Teal'c joined the others outside, leaving Sam, Daniel, and Ethan in the living room.

Sam sat down next to them. "Nick's been talking _nonstop_ about you coming home," she told Daniel.

"About me coming home or about the party?" he asked with a grin.

"Both," she conceded. "He woke us up at about six-thirty this morning to remind us that you were coming and we had to get ready for the party."

Daniel leaned down and kissed the top of Ethan's head. "I was pretty excited myself. I missed everyone." Ethan looked up and grinned at his father, snuggling a little closer.

Sam was about to tell him they'd all missed him too, when Sophie came running down the stairs and the doorbell rang at the same time. Sophie did a full about-turn and instead of heading out to the pool, she ran to answer the door. Sam got up and followed her, smiling at Vala who was coming down the stairs as well. Sophie reached up and turned the knob.

"Cassie!"

"Hey, kiddo!" Cassie said, putting down the bowl she was carrying so she could lift the little girl into her arms. "How are you, sweetheart?"

"I'm good!" Sophie exclaimed, wrapping her arms tightly around Cassie's neck. "My daddy came home!"

"I know! That's why we're having a party," Cassie said, kissing Sophie's hair. "Hey, who's this?" She pointed to the tall man beside her, who grinned at the little girl.

Sophie grinned back and leaned out of Cassie's arms toward him. "Andrew!"

He took her and hugged her. "Hey, Miss Sophie!"

Sam smiled. Both Cassie and her husband of two years now, Andrew, were so good with the kids, which made sense considering they both worked at a mental health center, counseling troubled kids and teenagers.

"Sam!" Cassie exclaimed, coming forward to grab her in a tight hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you forever!"

Sam hugged her back. "It's been a little crazy lately, hasn't it?"

Cassie went back to the porch to grab the bowl she'd put down and she and Andrew came inside, Andrew still carrying Sophie. Sam took the bowl, her mouth watering in anticipation for Andrew's infamous fruit salad, and led them back to the living room.

"Daniel!" Cassie cried, rushing over and giving him a hug.

"Hey, Cass," he said, hugging her back as best he could while still sitting on the couch.

"We were so worried about you! You're not allowed to get hurt anymore, buddy," Cassie said sternly, but with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," he said seriously. Andrew came forward and transferred Sophie to his left arm so he could shake Daniel's hand. "Hey, Andrew," Daniel greeted warmly.

"Good to have you back, Daniel," Andrew replied. "I hope you don't mind if I go throw your daughter in the pool?"

Sophie squealed and started squirming to be put down, but Andrew tickled her and made a beeline for the back door. Cassie chuckled, watching them go, and then turned to Ethan.

"Hey, Ethan, what're you reading?"

He looked up. "Le Morte d'Arthur."

Cassie raised her eyebrows. "So, just some light reading then?"

The eight-year-old shrugged. "Yeah. I left the French version at home."

Cassie looked at Daniel. "He's reading Le Morte d'Arthur in French?"

Daniel shrugged, unconsciously copying his son's gesture. "It's an old copy I picked up in Paris on a study abroad in college. We've been reading it together in the infirmary. His French isn't half bad." Daniel looked with pride at his son who was already absorbed in the book again.

Cassie shook her head. "Wow. Just . . . wow."

Sam was learning not to be surprised by Ethan's intelligence, but she still was, often. "Takes after you, Daniel."

Before he could reply, they heard the back door open, and Jack shouting from the kitchen. "Sam? What happened to my barbecue sauce?"

"I haven't touched it, it's probably in the fridge where you left it!" she called back, smiling and shaking her head. "We might as well all head out to the back since that's where the food will be. Are you going to be okay, Daniel?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Help me up, Ethan?"

Ethan hopped off the couch and grabbed his father's hand in both of his, helping to pull him to a standing position. Sam caught the slight wince on Daniel's face, but decided not to comment, and just led everyone outside.

Nick, Sophie, and the Quinns were all playing in the pool, Jonas and Andrew watching over them and talking to each other, and Jack and Teal'c were working on the BBQ.

"Have a seat, Daniel," Sam said, pointing to the tables and chairs she and Jack had set up earlier on the lawn. He gave her a look that said "I'm fine, really," but went to sit down, Vala and Ethan following him.

Cassie accompanied Sam over to another table where the condiments and other assorted food items had been set out.

"Have you talked to Audry yet, today?" Sam asked, setting the fruit salad on the table. Cassie and Andrew had just bought a home a few blocks from the Mitchells' house, which made them the designated babysitters, of course.

"We stopped by on our way out, and she said they were almost ready, but Austin was still running around in his diaper and who knows what Cody and Ben were doing upstairs, all I know is it was loud," Cassie answered. "We offered to help, but Audry can be . . ."

Sam chuckled. "Independent?"

"I was going to say stubborn, but that works too," Cassie said, grinning.

Over the noise of the kids playing and the barbecue sizzling, Sam and Cassie heard an engine and a car door slam, and they headed over to help unload, knowing it was the Mitchells' red minivan. As they approached the van, Audry stepped forward and gave them both a quick hug.

"How're you holding up?" Sam asked, wondering how the woman had been managing all four kids with Cam gone for the past three weeks.

Audry flashed her a tired smile. "We're okay." She looked at Cassie. "Cass has been a Godsend as usual, but we can't wait for Cam to get home."

They were interrupted by cries to be let out from the back of the van, and Audry opened the sliding door with a smile and shake of her head.

Four-year-old Benjamin had apparently already managed to extricate himself from his booster seat, because as soon as the door was open, he shot from the van and set off to find Nick and Sophie. His five-and-a-half-year-old brother, Cody, was right behind him, stopping for a second to wave at Sam and Cassie, his little freckled face beaming.

"Don't break anything, guys!" Audry hollered after them, leaning into the van to unbuckle two-year-old Austin who was getting frustrated at not being able to follow his brothers.

Cassie chuckled at the boys' exuberance, and went around to the other side of the van to unbuckle eleven-month-old Madelyn. Audry kissed Austin before setting the impatient toddler down to play with the other kids. "Sorry, they've been _insane_ today. I shouldn't have told them we were going to a party."

Sam watched the three little boys open the front door with a bang, glad that the house was mostly kid-proof. "Believe me, I know what you mean," Sam said, smiling at her.

Cassie came around to join them, baby Maddie sitting comfortably on her hip, bright pink pacifier in her mouth.

"Hi, Maddie!" Sam said, taking the baby from Cassie's arms. Maddie cooed at her and smiled through her pacifier.

"Hey, watch this," Audry said, taking the baby and setting her little feet on the ground, holding onto her hands. Maddie looked up at her mother, and then took a few wobbly steps forward, still hanging on to Audry's fingers.

"She's close to walking by herself, isn't she?" Sam said, grinning at the little girl.

Audry beamed, scooping Maddie back into her arms. "She really is. I keep telling her she has to wait until Daddy gets home to do any _real_ walking, though."

The three women headed back through the house to the backyard. Cody, Ben, and Austin were being detained from the swimming pool by Jack and Andrew, Andrew with the two older boys over each shoulder, and Jack holding little Austin upside-down by his ankles.

"Hey, Audry," Jack greeted. "We figured you wanted these guys to wear swimming suits _before _they jumped in the pool."

She sighed and passed Maddie off to Cassie so she could take a giggling Austin. "C'mon, guys," she told her other two boys.

"I got 'em," Andrew said, heading for the house with the boys still over his shoulders.

Audry and Andrew headed inside with the boys, and Maddie started to whimper when her mom was out of sight. Jack came to the rescue, sweeping the little girl into his arms and tickling her. "Hey, baby girl! Remember your favorite uncle?"

Maddie's cries turned into giggles, and Jack popped the pacifier out of her mouth. "You don't need that thing," Jack said, bouncing her. She reached for the pacifier, and he held it just out of reach until she started to get frustrated. He let her grab it and she popped it back into her mouth deftly, giving Jack a rather defiant look for an almost-one-year-old. He shook his head and turned to Cassie, extending his free arm to grab her in a hug. "Hey, kid. How ya doin'?"

She hugged him back. "Great as always, Jack."

"I see that husband of yours is still around," he said, teasing her slightly.

She poked him in the ribs. "Of course he is. And you know very well his name is Andrew."

Before Jack could reply, they were suddenly attacked by five wet children – Nick, Sophie, and the Quinns – all of them colliding into his legs and soaking his pants before bouncing away, giggling so hard they could barely stand up. Jack handed the baby to Cassie, and started after the kids, his mock-glare firmly in place.

They scattered, squealing and laughing, bare feet pounding across the grass. The twins had the shortest legs, and he grabbed one of them before he got too far, heading over to the pool and plopping the little boy in. He sat in the water and looked up at Jack, laughing uncontrollably, blue eyes sparkling. Jack grinned and winked at him before going after the other kids.

"Jonas! Backup!" he called as he passed the other man on his way to Sophie and Nick who were hiding under the table. As soon as he approached the table, however, Sophie jumped up, nearly hitting her head on the table, and scrambled into Daniel's lap. Nick, aware that their cover was blown, headed for Sam, who picked him up, laughing, despite his wet swimming trunks.

Jack put his hands on his hips and looked back and forth between the two giggling children. "That is so not fair, you two."

Sam grinned at him. "Recruiting protection from influential allies is a perfectly sound tactical move," she said, hugging Nick closer as if protecting him from some horrible enemy.

Jack acknowledged his defeat, shrugging and smiling wryly. "I'm way too old to be running around like that anyway."

"O'Neill, I believe the hamburger patties require barbecue sauce," Teal'c called from his spot over by the grill.

"Crap, I forgot." Jack headed back into the house, calling over his shoulder. "Did you say it was still in the fridge, Sam?"

"The door, probably," she called back.

"Mommy," Nick said, getting her attention. "Can I go find Cody an' Ben?"

"They're probably almost done and they'll come out in a minute to play in the pool," she assured him, giving his wet hair a quick kiss.

"'Kay. Can we put more water in the pool?" he asked, his blue eyes pleading.

She glanced at the pool and saw that most of the water had already been splashed out. "Sure. You want to help me?"

He nodded eagerly and she set him down and headed over to the hose. "Okay, I'll hold it and you turn the water on. Do you remember which way to turn it?"

"Wighty-tighty, wefty-woosy!" he called out, recalling the rhyme she'd taught him. She'd immediately regretted teaching him that as he'd used the knowledge to unscrew all the bottom door hinges in the house.

The sound of water splashing in the pool captured the attention of Sophie and the Quinns who were still hiding from Jack, and they jumped back in the pool, Kaden standing directly under the stream of water from the hose. Sam swished it back and forth, watering all their little heads and they giggled and ducked away as the cold water hit them.

Suddenly, with a bang of the back door and a chorus of shouts, the Mitchell boys appeared. Ben reached the crowded pool first and jumped in, narrowly missing a collision with Joseph. His older brother Cody came next, half-carrying half-dragging two-year-old Austin who was protesting loudly at being carted around by his oldest brother. Nick followed them, abandoning his duties at the faucet, and there were eight kids in the not-so-large blow-up pool.

"Who're you?" Sam heard Ben ask Elsie in his usual friendly way. Ben Mitchell was the most friendly little kid Sam had ever encountered. In fact, Cam and Audry often worried about him because he was known for going up to perfect strangers and introducing himself.

Elsie looked at him shyly. "Elsie," she said softly.

Ben stuck his little hand out, a wide grin splitting his freckled face. "I'm Ben Mitchell," he announced.

She took his hand gingerly, a little disconcerted by the loud little boy. It didn't help that she now had Cody's attention as well. Sam decided to assist in the introductions.

"Hey Ben, Cody, this is Elsie, and her little brothers Kaden and Joseph. Elsie, this is Cody, Ben, and Austin," she said pointing to each kid in turn.

Nick jumped in. "We're all cousins!" he shouted, splashing the water exuberantly.

The Mitchell boys readily accepted the fact that they were all "cousins," and began playing, Cody attempting to orchestrate some kind of game he had probably learned in Kindergarten, without much success.

Sam smiled at them, marveling at the way little kids seemed to understand and accept one another, no questions asked, and went to turn the hose off. She caught sight of Jonas, standing over by the porch and looking a little lost.

"Hey, Jonas," she said, waving him over. "I'm sorry, I haven't really introduced you to everyone."

He shrugged. "I did meet Mrs. Mitchell briefly at the SGC," he said.

"Three of her and Cam's kids are in the pool there, the oldest is Cody, then Ben, and Austin. Baby Maddie is around here somewhere . . . oh, Vala's holding her." She pointed to the table where Cassie, Andrew, and Audry had joined Daniel, Vala, and Ethan. "Have you met Vala?"

"Sort of. We've encountered each other at the SGC a few times."

"Well, let's go make things official," Sam said, leading him over to the table.

After Jonas was officially introduced to Vala, Audry, Cassie, and Andrew, the inevitable discussion regarding everyone's children began. They traded all the cute things, horrible things, and genius-level things their respective children had done recently. Sometimes when she stopped to think about it, Sam was surprised to be having these types of conversations. It was a significant contrast to the earlier days of what felt like endless briefings and constant scrambling to save the world. Even on the calmer occasions when Sam had found herself able to have a normal conversation with her team, the topics were usually work-related, and anything _but_ family related.

Their conversation was invariably punctuated with arguments and minor injuries courtesy of the kids, until Jack and Teal'c announced the food was ready. The adults all got up to find their children, and Sam managed to extricate Nick from the pool and carry him over to the food table.

"Do you want a burger or hot dog?" she asked, attempting to smooth down his damp hair.

"Bogo," he said, stabbing a small finger at his choice.

Sam smiled to herself. Burger was a pretty difficult word if you couldn't say your 'r's. "Do you want ketchup or just cheese?"

"Cheese!" he exclaimed, bouncing in her arms.

She knew he would probably pick off the cheese and just eat that, but she would give him the benefit of the doubt. She got him some chips and fruit and then settled him at the table, next to the other kids. With the kids content for the moment, the adults began getting their food just as Jack's cell, and the phone someone had found for Jonas, rang at the same time. That could only mean one thing: something was happening at the SGC. They both answered and Sam looked back and forth, watching their faces for clues of what was going on.

They both hung up after only a few minutes, Jonas looking excited, Jack looking a little sad.

"Colonel Mitchell did it!" Jonas burst out. "General Landry said he just reported that the settlement is safe to return to!"

Sam suddenly understood the look on Jack's face. It appeared that the Quinn family would be leaving very soon, and while it would be nice to have things a little calmer, they would miss them.

Audry spoke up. "Cam's not supposed to be back for another five days, though."

"He got a tip-off from one of the terrorists they captured," Jack said, traces of sadness still on his face. "He told them where their last hideout was."

Sam attempted to appear happy for Jonas. "This is great, Jonas. You could be home within a few days."

He grinned, the first real smile she'd seen from him in eleven years. "This is . . . I can't even begin to thank you guys for what you've done. Elsie, Kaden, Joseph! Come here!" he called.

The three of them trotted over, smiling, and Sam could tell Elsie hadn't heard the conversation. Jonas knelt down to talk to them.

"Guess what, guys? We can go home in just a few days!" he told them.

Elsie frowned and the twins looked confused. "Home?" Kaden repeated, glancing back at Sam.

"Daddy," Elsie said, surprisingly calm. "Do we have to go back?"

Jonas' excitement began to dissipate. "Elsie, we talked about this. Kelowna is where we belong. It's where . . ." he cleared his throat. "It's where Mom wanted us to be. Do you really not want to go back?"

She sighed, suddenly looking much older than she was. "I want to stay with you and Kaden and Joseph."

Jonas smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands. "Good girl. We need to stick together." He drew the twins in and hugged all three of them, but Sam could still see confusion on the twins' faces.

Joseph tugged at his dad's sleeve. "Home?" he asked.

"Yeah, buddy, do you remember? Our home on Kelowna."

Joseph pointed toward the house. "Home," he said, and this time it wasn't a question.

Sam smiled, touched that the twins considered her and Jack's house their home. They had lived there for nearly a month, and that was a long time for three-year-olds.

Jonas was shaking his head. "No, we have to go through the Stargate to get home. Remember that?"

The little boys were still not comprehending. "I'm sure they'll remember when they see it, Jonas," Sam said.

Jonas nodded, and stood up. "I'm sure they will, too. General Landry wants to start moving my people through the gate tomorrow so they can get started on some rebuilding and clean-up, and I'd like to be there."

"I can go and help, too," Jack said.

"As can I," Teal'c added.

Jonas' excitement bubbled back to the surface. "Just a few more days and we can go home."

"We're happy for ya," Jack said, his smile not touching his eyes. "Real happy."

Sam just hoped Jonas didn't pick up the note of sarcasm in his voice.

* * *

A/N: So, I know the first few paragraphs were a total cop-out, and my sincerest apologies to those of you wanting to see some actual action on Kelowna. The truth is, I'm ready to be done with this story! It's already turned out twice as long as I anticipated, and we still have quite a bit more to go. Besides, I'm not very good at writing action stories. Feel free to write your own chapter about what the offensive on the terrorists was like. :)


	24. Last Day on Earth

For the next couple of days, the SGC was in a perpetual state of motion. The two hundred or so Kelownans that had been housed there and in camps outside the base, were returning to their home, loaded with supplies to help them get their settlement going strong again. Jonas was in the midst of everything, and Jack almost had to forcibly remove him from the building to get him to come home and get some sleep.

Jack and Teal'c spent a lot of time helping keep things as organized as possible, but despite the Kelownans' excitement at returning, Jack could not quite bring himself to feel happy for them. He had attributed his feelings of apprehension to the fact that he was really going to miss the Quinns, but he was starting to feel like that wasn't the only thing bothering him. No, something was not quite right, he just couldn't figure out what.

On the second night after the BBQ, Jack and Jonas talked to Cam, who was about ready to order the Daedalus to begin its return trip.

"We just beamed down the last of the Kelownans, except the terrorists we captured of course. We've got eleven guys in the holding cells at the moment," Cam reported.

"We'll be able to take care of them as soon as we repair the jail," Jonas said.

Cam nodded. "I sent a couple of teams down there just in case, but I think you guys should be home free."

"I can't begin to express our gratitude, Colonel Mitchell," Jonas said, leaning toward the monitor.

Cam shrugged and grinned. "It was nothin'. I gotta admit, I'm ready to be home, though. Hey, General, how's that family of mine?"

Jack smiled. "As loud and insane as ever."

Cam chuckled. "Wouldn't have 'em any other way."

"You better hurry that ship home or your baby girl is gonna start walking without you," Jack warned.

"Yessir, we should be on our way in half-an-hour," he replied, still grinning.

"Have a safe trip, Colonel."

The transmission ended and Jonas turned to Jack. "I need to go through the 'gate tomorrow and see how much repair our house needs before I can take the kids back."

Jack nodded. "Probably a good idea."

Jonas studied his face for a moment and frowned. "You still don't want us to go back."

Jack sighed. "Jonas, I feel like this is a mistake. Something's wrong."

"What? Everything is fine, Colonel Mitchell just said so," Jonas said, drawing his eyebrows together in confusion.

"It's just . . . a gut feeling I guess. And I didn't survive this long by ignoring my gut, Jonas. I think it's a mistake to go back," he said firmly.

Jonas shook his head. "I'm going back, Jack. And I'm taking my kids with me, and everything will be _fine._"

Jack debated saying something else, but it was Jonas' choice to make and he couldn't force him to stay. He dropped the argument. "Ready to get back to my house?"

Jonas rubbed his face, obviously weary. "Yeah, I want to talk to the kids before they go to bed."

They left the SGC in silence, and were mostly quiet on the drive home. When Jack opened the front door, he didn't hear any little feet running to greet them, and he wondered if the kids were already in bed.

"Sam?" he called softly. There was no reply, but he did hear something coming from the upstairs bathroom. He and Jonas climbed the stairs, sounds of giggling and splashing getting louder the closer they got to the bathroom. Jack knocked on the door, and Sam opened it, wearing a big grin and a collection of bubbles in her hair and on her shirt.

"Hey," she said, giving him a kiss.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked, peering past her into the bathroom.

Nick and the twins were all in the tub, painting bubble beards on each other's faces and giggling and laughing uncontrollably. Their hair was sticking up at wild angles, and also decorated with bubbles, and Elsie was perched on the sink in one of Jack's large t-shirts, brushing her teeth.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed, spitting into the sink and hopping down. She hugged Jonas around the knees, and then gave Jack a hug too.

"Hey, kiddo, having fun?" Jack asked.

"Yep." She giggled. "Did you know about Santa Claus?"

That one came out of nowhere. "Uh . . . yeah, I do know about Santa Claus."

Sam laughed. "During the course of our bubble bath here, Nicky dipped his face in the bubbles and proclaimed himself Santa Claus. I had to explain."

"Ah," Jack said, everything becoming clear.

"Daddy! Wook!"

Jack looked toward the tub so see Nick standing up, his arms stretched wide as he presented his bubble covered face.

"Nicky! Sit down, pal, you're going to fall," Sam said, grabbing his little arm.

He sat down again. "Didja see, Daddy? I'm Santa Cwaus!"

Jack chuckled at his little boy. "Yeah, buddy, I see that. Does that mean you're going to give me presents?"

Nick thought about that for a minute. "No, I'm not Santa Cwaus, you be Santa Cwaus, Daddy!" he said, gathering the bubbles off his face and holding them out to Jack.

Jack laughed. "No thanks, little man."

"Are you guys coming in or staying out?" Sam asked. "You're letting out all the warm air."

Jack backed up and started to close the door. "Call if you need any help," he said, waving to the kids.

As he walked back downstairs with Jonas, the other man asked, "Is Santa Claus the guy who comes on Christmas and brings presents to put in socks or something?"

Jack stared at him. "You remember that from eleven years ago?"

Jonas shrugged. "Always did have a pretty good memory."

Jack shook his head. "No kidding. You know, now that your kids know about it, they might require Christmas presents."

"Hopefully they'll forget before then," he replied.

"If you can remember for eleven years, I betcha they can remember for three months."

Jack sat on the couch and turned the TV to a hockey game, relaxing his tired muscles, but keeping an eye on Jonas, who was pacing around the living room.

"Gonna wear a hole," Jack said casually.

Jonas stopped for a moment, but resumed pacing. "I'm kind of . . . nervous. To go back."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know . . . what if – what if it's not as safe as we thought? What if the kids hate it? Elsie already told me she wants to stay here . . ."

Jack shrugged, his eyes still vaguely focused on the TV. "So stay."

"Jack, I told you, we can't." Jonas stopped pacing.

Jack turned to look at him. "It's your decision, Jonas. You already know what I think."

They stared at each other for a moment before the twins came hurtling down the stairs and into Jonas' legs. He turned, smiling, and picked them up, one in each arm.

"Hi, guys. Did you have a good bath?" he asked as they both cuddled into his shoulders.

They nodded, their damp hair no doubt getting Jonas' shirt wet. Jack noticed Sam had dug out a couple pairs of Nick's flannel footie pajamas from last year to dress the twins in. Just in time too, the weather had suddenly gotten cold for the first week in October.

Jonas kissed them both and sank down on the couch, a faint smile on his face but worry in his eyes. The twins were being strangely cuddly tonight, and actually remained in Jonas' lap, content to sit still for once.

Jack had just turned back to the hockey game when Nick and Elsie, followed by Sam, came down the stairs.

"Hey, little man," he greeted his son as the boy climbed up into his lap.

"Daddy, when is Santa Cwaus coming?" Nick asked, settling himself in the crook of Jack's arm.

"'Bout three months, buddy. We have to have Halloween and Thanksgiving first," he said, hugging the little boy and breathing in the smell of baby shampoo.

Sam and Elsie joined them on the couch, Elsie sitting between Jonas and Sam and drawing her knees up so the t-shirt covered her entire body. "Daddy," she asked quietly. "Can we stay until Santa Claus comes?"

Jonas looked at her over Joseph's head and sighed. "Baby, I'm going to check out our old house tomorrow. If everything's okay, we're going to go home the day after that."

She dropped her chin to her knees. "Can we come back and visit Earth a lot?"

"I don't know, Elsie."

Jack jumped in. "If you can't come visit us, we'll come visit you, kiddo."

She turned her head and smiled faintly. "Okay." She sighed, leaning into Sam. Sam wrapped an arm around her.

"Everything will be fine, Els. I bet you'll be too busy to even miss us."

Elsie shook her head vehemently. "I'll miss you," she said.

Sam hugged her tighter. "We'll miss you too."

* * *

After Jack dropped Jonas off at the SGC the next morning, he hurried home. He and Sam had decided last night to take the kids to the park so they could spend what would probably be their last day on Earth having fun.

As soon as Jack opened the front door, Nick, Kaden, and Joseph all came running. "Daddy, weady to go to the pawk?"

Jack lifted him and tossed him in the air. "You betcha, buddy. Are _you_ guys ready?" he asked, looking down to include the twins in his question.

"Yeah! Bark!" they shouted in unison, grinning and jumping up and down. Jack smiled. The little boys were finally starting to talk more, though they seemed to have trouble with their initial consonants. Thus, "park" became "bark."

Elsie came in, grinning and tugging on Sam's hand. "Can we go now?"

Jack forced his face to look solemn. "I think we'd better wait a couple of hours."

"Daddy, no!" Nick cried. The other kids looked crestfallen.

"He's kidding, guys," Sam said, rolling her eyes at her husband. "Everyone needs shoes, though!"

Elsie and the twins scampered upstairs, followed by Nick as soon as Jack put him down. Jack expected Sam to follow, but she came and hugged him tightly instead.

"What are we going to do without them, Jack?" she said quietly.

He hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her hair. "Well, it'll be a lot quieter," he said.

She sighed, but didn't say anything else. They remained like that until they heard the kids coming down the stairs, giggling. Elsie and Nick had managed to get their shoes on correctly, but the twins needed a little help. Jack took Kaden and Sam took Joseph, and Elsie helped gather up jackets.

Finally, everyone had shoes and jackets on, and Sam and Jack managed to get everyone buckled in the car. Elsie and the twins now had booster seats, which made for a rather cramped car, but it worked.

Jack drove, enjoying the sound of Nick leading his cousins in a rousing rendition of "Old McDonald." He looked over at Sam, knowing that saying goodbye to the Quinns was proving harder for her than anyone as she had spent the most time with them. She was smiling sadly, watching the kids in the rear view mirror.

"We'll go visit," he said, hoping to cheer her up.

She glanced at him, flashing a smile. "I know."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, listening to the kids talk and giggle with each other. Jack wasn't entirely sure who would miss the Quinns more, Sam or Nick. His little boy had loved having constant playmates, and not for the first time, Jack had wished he and Sam were younger so they could have more kids. For all he teased the Mitchells, he was envious of their large family.

They reached the park and Jack was relieved to see that not many people were there today. Probably due to the cool weather and the fact that it was still pretty early in the morning, but he wasn't complaining.

He and Sam unbuckled the kids and turned them loose, following at a slower pace, but trying to keep an eye on all four of them at once. Nick led the way onto the jungle gym, heading for the biggest slide. Elsie brought up the rear, helping her little brothers up the stairs when they needed it. Nick paused at the top of the slide and looked down.

"Catch me, Daddy!" he shouted before hurling himself down the large yellow slide. Jack hurried over to the bottom to catch the little boy, and Nick soon appeared head first, giggling. The twins followed almost before Jack could lift Nick off the slide, right on top of each other, and then Elsie, her hair full of static. The four of them headed up again, and Jack remained at the bottom of the slide, casting a glance at Sam who had the camera out.

They stayed at the park for several hours, taking a break for a picnic lunch and ice cream. Jack attempted to teach the kids football, but they were a little young to understand the rules and ended up running around and chucking the ball at random. Jonas called just as they were starting to think about going home for dinner, and said someone was giving him a ride home and that he'd be back soon.

Jack helped round up the kids and got them buckled, surprised that they hadn't protested much at leaving the park. Either they were completely exhausted or they had picked up on the somewhat somber mood that had come over Jack and Sam. Probably a little of both, he mused.

They were quiet on the way home, even the kids for the most part. By the time they got all the kids out of the car and in the house, Jonas had arrived, grinning and excited.

"So," Jack said, helping Nick get his coat off. "How's the ol' homestead?"

"It's fine," he said, looking at his kids. "It was hardly damaged at all. Most of our things are even still there, and I spent the day cleaning up so it's ready for us tomorrow."

Elsie sighed and leaned into Sam's leg. "We're going home tomorrow, Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Guess what? Your blanket is still there, and you can have your own bed again!" he said, crouching down and placing his hands on her shoulders.

She looked at him for a moment, considering his words. "Blanky's still there?"

He nodded, then almost fell over as the twins took advantage of his crouched position to jump on his back. Jonas laughed, grabbing at the giggling little boys and finally getting a hold of them. "You guys ready to go home, too?" They just giggled as Jonas tickled them.

Jack felt a sudden pressure against his leg, and looked down to see Nick hugging his leg. He reached down and lifted the little boy into his arms. "You okay, buddy?"

"Are my cousins weaving fowever?" Nick asked quietly, his eyes filling with tears.

"No, buddy!" Jack hurried to reassure him. "They need to go back to their home, but we'll go visit and they'll come back here, I promise."

Nick laid his head down on Jack's shoulder and sniffed. "I want them to stay here."

Jack hugged him and ruffled his hair. "It's been fun, hasn't it, pal?"

Nick nodded against his shoulder.

"Is Nick okay?" Jonas asked, standing with Kaden in one arm, and Joseph in the other.

Jack smiled. "Yeah. He's just a little sad you guys are leaving."

Jonas expression grew serious. "We'll miss you, too. All of you. You've been . . . well, you've been family, and I can't begin to say how much we appreciate it."

Sam smiled, though Jack could see the shimmer in her eyes that meant she was holding back tears. "It was our pleasure, Jonas," she said, stroking Elsie's hair. "So, what do you want for your last Earth dinner?"

They all laughed, though it was a little forced, and headed for the kitchen.


	25. Goodbye

That night was busy, as the Mitchells, Jacksons, Teal'c, and Cassie and Andrew all came to say goodbye to the Quinns. Jonas wanted to leave as early as possible the next morning, and as soon as everyone had left, he started packing. Sam and Jack helped, gathering up the clothing and other things the Quinns had accumulated in their stay, and finding boxes and old suitcases for Jonas to pack them in. At one point they lost track of Kaden, only to find him dozing off in one of the suitcases fifteen minutes later.

Sam decided to call it a night at that point, gathering up all the sleepy kids and taking them upstairs to the guest room. She let everyone pick out a few books except Kaden, who was still mostly asleep against her shoulder, and cuddled up with them all on the big bed Elsie and her little brothers had been sleeping in. Nick and Kaden were both in her lap, Joseph was on one side, and Elsie on the other. The only light in the room was the soft bedside lamp, and they were all asleep by the time Sam made it through the third book, but she didn't want to get up. She hugged all four of the little bodies tightly, dropping a kiss on each head, and wished for the hundredth time that day that the Quinns could stay on Earth.

"Sam?"

She looked up to see Jack in the doorway, a slight smile on his face. She smiled back. "Hey."

He came and sat on the edge of the bed, ruffling the closest kid's – Joseph's – hair. "You gonna stay in here all night?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm tempted," she said, resting her cheek on Nick's head.

He looked at her. "Jonas wants to get going as early as possible tomorrow, so we should probably get some rest."

She nodded but didn't move. "Where is he, by the way?"

Jack shook his head. "Still packing."

Sam sighed. "Can you get Nick?"

Jack leaned forward and lifted the slumbering little boy off her lap so she could get up. It still took some maneuvering as the Quinns were all still leaning on her, but she managed to get off the bed without waking anyone. She tucked them in, giving all their heads another kiss before following Jack out into the hallway. He wrapped the arm that wasn't carrying Nick around her shoulders and tugged her close.

"You've done a lot for those kids, Sam. They won't forget," he said quietly.

She leaned into him, wrapping both arms around his waist. "I just hope they'll be okay."

He kissed her hair. "I'm sure they'll be fine," he said, but his stomach fluttered with doubt.

* * *

The next morning, Jack, Sam, and Jonas got the kids up as soon as it was light, even though Jonas had been up past 2 AM packing, and loaded the Quinns' stuff into Jack's truck. They were taking both the truck and the car to fit all the people and boxes and bags. Jack took a sleepy Nick with him in the truck while Sam drove Jonas and his kids in the car. Sam found herself driving slower than usual, as if she could prevent the Quinns' departure, and she kept looking in the rearview mirror at the three kids who were sleepy and subdued, but adorable as ever.

They met Jack and Nick in the parking lot, and found four SGC personnel ready to help transport the boxes and suitcases. They all made their way into the mountain quietly, thankful to be out of the chill morning air. Finally down in the gateroom, they loaded the Quinns' things onto a dolly, and the gate began dialing up.

Elsie looked up at Sam, her lip trembling. "I don't want to go," she whispered.

Sam crouched down and hugged her tightly, tears starting in her own eyes. "Elsie," she began, but couldn't manage anything else. After a moment, she felt Kaden and Joseph bump up against her, and she opened her arms to include them all. She tried desperately to keep her emotions in control, but it was difficult after seeing the kids' tear-stained faces and trembling lips. "I love you guys," she whispered. She released them and stood up, wiping at her eyes.

Nick ran forward and hugged Elsie, and then the twins in turn, his own lip trembling. Her son's display of affection for his cousins nearly sent Sam over the edge, and when Nick gave Jonas a tight hug around the knees, and Jack crouched down to give the kids a hug, she had to bite her lip hard to keep in control. She stepped forward and hugged Jonas tightly, smiling even as another tear escaped.

"We'll see you soon, Jonas."

He nodded, his own eyes a little wet. "Thank you again," he said, glancing at Jack, too. "We'll stay in touch."

"You better," Jack said, grasping Jonas' hand tightly. "Oh, and you'd better take this." He handed Jonas a GDO.

The gate activated with its customary swoosh, and Jonas gave them one last smile before heading up the ramp, pushing the dolly and the kids following behind. They stopped just before entering the event horizon, and turned to wave. Jack, Sam, and Nick waved back, and then the Quinns were gone.

Nick let out a tiny, hiccuping sob, and Sam gathered the little boy into her arms, hugging him tightly. "It's okay, sweetheart," she murmured, her voice catching. "We'll go visit them soon, okay?"

Jack wrapped an arm around Sam and they stared at the empty gate for a moment, before turning and heading out of the mountain.

* * *

Two days later, the Daedalus returned home, and there was a party at the Mitchell house. The Quinns were invited, of course, but weren't able to make it. Not much of a surprise to Sam and Jack, but certainly a disappointment. It was nice to have Cam back though, and Cassie and Andrew announced that they had received their foster care license just that morning. Since they worked with kids that were often homeless or abused, they had decided they wanted to help them even more. Sam was excited for them – they'd been waiting for a long time – but a large part of her was still missing the Quinns fiercely. The house was ridiculously quiet it seemed, and Nick was almost constantly bored.

The Quinns were eventually able to visit for a couple of days, just after Halloween, but couldn't stay long. Sam and Jack promised to go visit them, too, but they were a little paranoid about taking Nick off-world, and the holidays were keeping them busy and they only got one visit in, the first week in December. Sam was amazed at how much the kids had seemed to grow in just a month. The twins talked almost nonstop now, and almost always at the same time, so they weren't very understandable, but Sam was relieved to see them progressing so fast, despite their turbulent life. Elsie seemed to be adjusting, though she told Sam she still wanted to live on Earth. Jack convinced Jonas that he had to bring his family to Earth for Christmas or New Years, and Jonas promised to see them again soon.

The O'Neills left Kelowna with heavy hearts, the feeling that something wasn't quite right returning to Jack with full force, but Christmas preparations soon distracted them, and it was two weeks before Jack realized his misgivings were valid.

* * *

Gate technician Trevor Keane was bored out of his mind. It was just a week-and-a-half until Christmas, and there were no teams off-world at the moment. He didn't even see why anyone needed to be here at 3 AM to watch a gate that was not even going to do anything. _Guess that's what I get for being the new guy_, he thought to himself, looking around for the other guy, Lieutenant Dalton, that was supposed to be here. He'd said he was just going to get coffee, but he'd been gone for a while now.

A sudden loud noise broke into his thoughts, and his eyes snapped toward the Stargate. It was dialing up. He felt a flutter of panic. Where the heck was Dalton? Trevor had never _done _this before. He hesitated for a moment, then typed in the controls to close the iris. His eyes fluttered back and forth from the gate to his computer screen, looking for an IDC, though he knew it was unlikely since all the teams were home.

"What's going on?"

Dalton's voice nearly made him jump out of his chair. "You scared the crap out of me!"

Dalton raised an eyebrow. "Someone's dialing in?"

Trevor nodded. "No IDC, yet."

They both waited in silence, Dalton standing right behind Trevor's chair. The wormhole engaged behind the iris, and Trevor looked back down at his computer screen. "Hey, receiving IDC!" he exclaimed.

"What? Who's?" Dalton leaned forward.

"Looks like the one General O'Neill gave to Jonas Quinn."

"Open the iris, hurry," Dalton said.

Trevor typed in the code. Didn't that Jonas guy know it was 3AM Earth time? The iris slid open, and someone stumbled through. It was not Jonas Quinn, however. It was a little girl.

"What the . . ." Dalton muttered.

The little girl looked up at them. "I need to talk to Sam," she said, and promptly collapsed onto the ramp.

"Call the infirmary!" Dalton shouted, already heading down to the gateroom. Trevor slammed his hand down on the emergency call button, shut down the gate, and followed Dalton. And he had thought nothing was going to happen tonight.

* * *

Sam came awake suddenly, feeling disoriented and wondering what had woken her up. She realized her phone was ringing, and trying to get her sluggish body to cooperate, grabbed for it, seeing that the clock on the night table read 3:12. She wasn't surprised to see the SGC on her caller ID, but a sick dread filled her stomach as she flipped it open.

"Colonel O'Neill," she said, sitting up and not caring at the moment if she woke Jack up.

"Colonel, this is Lieutenant Dalton, we have a bit of a situation here."

"What's going on, Lieutenant?" she asked, trying to control the shake in her voice.

"A little girl just came through the Stargate with the GDO that was given to Jonas Quinn. She said she wanted to talk to you."

"Elsie?" Sam gasped, more to herself than the Lieutenant.

"I don't know her name, I'm sorry ma'am. She's in the infirmary right now, and we've called Dr. Lam and General Landry, but we thought you should know too."

Sam swallowed hard. "Is she okay?"

He hesitated and Sam was sure her heart was going to beat out of her chest. "I'm not sure. I haven't spoken with the nurses yet."

Sam took a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. "Thank you, Lieutenant, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Sam?"

Sam shut her phone and turned toward Jack. "I think Elsie's at the SGC."

He slapped a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes. "What?"

"Jack, I need to get to the base," she said, changing into jeans and a sweater.

"Why would Elsie be at the base?" he asked, sitting up.

"I don't know, just . . . stay here with Nick okay? I'll call you as soon as I know something."

"Sam, wait -" he called, but she was already out the door.

* * *

I know, I know, short chapter _and_ a cliffhanger. I promise to get the next one up soon. :)


	26. Elsie

I'm going to be out of town for the next week-and-a-half, so there will be a little delay. Hopefully this isn't as bad of a cliffhanger! :) Oh, Jack's language is a teeny bit rough in this one.

* * *

Sam often found herself speeding on her way to the SGC, but she couldn't remember the last time she'd been going this fast, or felt this scared. If Elsie had come through the gate alone and was now in the infirmary, something was desperately wrong on Kelowna. She reached the SGC in record time and ran through the building, cursing the elevator out loud as it took her too slowly down to the infirmary level. When the doors finally opened, she ran down the hall and skidded into the infirmary, her eyes searching desperately for a little girl.

She found her. Elsie was in the far bed, Dr. Lam and two nurses hovering around her.

"Carolyn?" Sam asked, approaching the bed but afraid to find out what had happened to Elsie.

Dr. Lam looked up. "Colonel, I'm glad you're here. She's been asking for you."

Sam stepped up to the bed and was relieved to see that Elsie was conscious, though she was very pale and her face and hair were filthy. The little girl smiled slightly and held out her arms for a hug. Sam leaned down to hug her tightly, careful of the IV in one of her arms. "Hey, sweetheart. What happened? What are you doing here by yourself?" she asked, still holding the little girl.

Elsie didn't answer, and Sam pulled back to see tears streaming down the little girl's face. "It's okay, baby, you're safe now," Sam said. She knew Elsie probably needed rest, but they needed to find out what had happened. She sat on the bed so she could hold the little girl in her lap, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort.

She looked up at Dr. Lam. "Is she okay?"

"Dehydration and exhaustion, as far as I can tell. No apparent injuries besides a few scratches."

Sam nodded and turned her attention back to Elsie. "Elsie, did something happen in the settlement? Where's your family, sweetheart?" Sam asked gently.

Elsie gripped Sam's sweater tightly, and took a deep, shuddering breath. "They got out," she whispered.

"Who got out, baby?"

"The bad guys. They got more bombs, and blew up everything."

Sam felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She took a deep, steadying breath and hugged Elsie tighter. "What about your dad and your brothers?"

Elsie choked back a sob. "We-we're hiding in the caves. Da-Daddy got hurt."

Sam squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay, sweetheart. We're going to go help them. How did you get to the Stargate?"

"It was dark and I just went fast."

"How did you know the address?"

"Daddy told me," the little girl said, breaking down into fresh tears.

"Shh, it's okay, baby. Everything's going to be fine. You are a very brave girl." As Sam was trying to comfort Elsie, General Landry entered the infirmary.

"What happened?" he asked, looking back and forth between his daughter and Sam.

"The terrorists escaped and bombed the settlement again, sir," Sam answered. "Elsie says her family is hiding in some caves, but I don't know who else might have survived." It was taking all her self-control to keep her voice steady.

"I'll call Colonel Mitchell and get some teams together. Dalton and Keane can get a MALP there in the meantime. I want to know what's going on over there," the general said, already turning to leave the infirmary.

"Thank you, sir," Sam said, grateful he was willing to launch an immediate rescue mission. She wasn't even sure if they would find Jonas alive, and she had no idea what condition the twins were in. She didn't think questioning Elsie any further would help, however. The little girl had had enough for one night.

"I'm going to give her a slight sedative," Dr. Lam said, reaching for the IV port. "Rest is the best thing for her right now."

Sam nodded, laying her cheek on top of Elsie's head.

"Don't leave, Sam," the little girl said, trembling in Sam's arms.

"I'm right here, sweetheart. I promise I'll stay," Sam said, her voice cracking. A few minutes later, she felt the little girl relax in her arms and knew the sedative was taking effect. She shifted Elsie off her lap and onto the bed, but kept a hold of her hand. Remembering her promise to call Jack, Sam reached into her pocket for her phone and hit the speed dial.

"Sam, what the hell is going on?"

"Elsie's here, Jack. She made it through the gate by herself to tell us that the terrorists escaped and bombed the settlement." Sam was sure he could detect the fear she felt in her voice, despite her attempts to keep it under control.

Jack swore violently, and Sam didn't blame him. Things were just starting to look up for the Kelownans. "Is Elsie okay?"

"Dr. Lam said she was just dehydrated and exhausted. She's resting now," Sam answered, squeezing the small hand in hers.

"Why the hell did they send a six-year-old girl? Where's Jonas?" Sam could hear the anger in his voice, and it was a question she herself had been asking.

"Elsie said Jonas was injured. Jack, Elsie and her family might be the only survivors. What if she was the only one that _could _come?"

Jack sighed heavily. "What're we going to do?"

"General Landry's getting a team together right now, and they're sending a MALP. I'm staying with Elsie," she said firmly, looking down at the little girl.

"So. I guess we just get to wait, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She paused for a minute. "Jack, we shouldn't have let them go. It was too dangerous!"

"Sam, you can't blame yourself."

"Then you can't blame yourself, either."

"I don't!" he said, but she could tell he did.

"Yes you do, you always do, Jack."

He sighed again. "I _told_ Jonas it wasn't safe. I told him . . ."

"It was his choice. We did what we could, right?"

"We _could_ have physically stopped them from going."

She heard the slight smile in his voice and knew he was partially kidding. "Well, I'm not letting them leave a second time, I'll tell you that."

They were silent for another moment before Jack spoke again. "You want me to bring Nick and come sit with you?"

The offer was tempting, she wanted Jack's comforting presence right now, but it wouldn't be good on Nick. "Better let Nicky sleep. We're going to have enough to deal with today without a sleep-deprived little boy on our hands."

"Okay." She heard the disappointment in his voice. "Call me if you find anything else out."

"I will. I love you, Jack."

"I love you, too."

Sam closed her phone and the dark and quiet of the infirmary swept in on her. Dr. Lam and the nurses were still there, but she felt alone and helpless. She wanted to at least be able to get to the control room to see the MALP footage, but she wasn't going to leave Elsie, not now.

It was a long night. Sam dozed a little in her chair beside Elsie, but she was far too worried about Jonas and the twins to sleep much. Elsie stayed asleep, for which Sam was mostly grateful. She knew the little girl needed it, but she was also feeling distinctly lonely. Sometime around 5AM, though, Cam stopped by, and she welcomed the distraction.

"How's the kid?" he asked, coming over to lay a hand on Sam's shoulder.

She looked up at him and attempted a smile. "She'll be okay."

"And how 'bout you? You slept at all?" he asked, concern in his eyes.

"Hey, you haven't slept either," she replied, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "True."

"Are you going over there tonight?" she said, noticing his BDUs and vest.

"Yup, just about to head out." His eyes clouded and he looked away.

"Cam, it's not your fault," she said softly, placing a hand on his arm.

He sighed. "I'm the one who told them it was safe. It _is _my fault."

She smiled despite herself. "You sound like Jack."

A corner of his mouth lifted. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Seriously, Cam, this is not your fault. It wasn't like you weren't thorough, the terrorists escaped from the Kelownan prison. There's nothing you could have done to prevent that."

He looked at her again, the hint of a smile on his face. "I'll keep tellin' myself that. Thanks, Sam."

She squeezed his arm. "Anytime. Be careful out there, okay?"

"Yes'm," he said, smiling broader. Then he turned and left the infirmary, and Sam was alone again.

Two hours later, her cell phone ringing brought her out of a light doze and she fished it from her pocket, one hand still holding Elsie's. It was Jack calling.

"Hey," she said, her voice a little raspy.

"Nick just woke up. We're coming over."

"Jack, didn't you go back to bed?"

"Like you could sleep, either. Heard anything yet?"

"No, Cam left for Kelowna about . . ." She glanced at the infirmary clock behind her. "Two hours ago. I've been in the infirmary all night with Elsie."

"Okay, we'll see you soon."

Sam hung up and noticed Elsie was beginning to stir. She stroked the little girl's hair, and her eyes fluttered open.

"Sam?"

"Right here, Els. See? I told you I wouldn't leave." Sam plastered on a smile, and Elsie smiled back.

"Is my daddy and Kaden and Joseph here yet?"

Sam squeezed her hand. "Not yet. My friend took some people over there to make sure it was safe for us to go look for them."

Elsie sighed and tightened her hold on Sam's hand. "How come the bad guys are doing this, Sam?"

Sam thought for a minute, but her tired mind couldn't come up with anything. "I don't know, sweetheart."

Elsie nodded slowly. "Daddy doesn't know either."

"Elsie, how far away from the Stargate are the caves your family is hiding in?" she asked, suddenly curious about how far this little girl had actually come on her own.

She thought for a moment. "You have to go past the settlement into the forest, and follow the river, and then there's two big hills that you have to go between, and across the field with the blue flowers."

"Are they secret caves? Do the bad guys know about them?" Sam didn't want to scare the little girl, but she was their best source of intel at the moment.

"Only Daddy knows. 'Cause he used to take me and Kaden and Joseph there to play, but he told us it was secret and we couldn't ever, ever tell anyone. Except I think it's okay to tell you," she said. "He said we might have to go there by ourselves someday."

_Jonas had had to find a spot his children would be safe if he was ever taken or killed, _Sam thought, trying to imagine having to do something like that for Nick. "That's good, Elsie. That means the bad guys won't find them. Was anyone else with you?"

She shook her head.

"Elsie, has anyone ever told you how brave you are?" Sam asked smiling.

The little girl smiled back. "Uh-huh. A lot of people."

"Oh, really?" Sam said, tickling her a little.

Elsie giggled and Sam soaked in the comforting sound. "Sam? Can we stay on Earth now?" Elsie asked after a minute.

"I'm not letting you go back to Kelowna," she said seriously.

"Good. Daddies can be silly sometimes, huh."

Sam chuckled. "They sure can."

Right on cue, Jack and Nick entered the infirmary.

"Elsie!" Nick shouted, running over.

Sam lifted him up to the bed, and Elsie sat up to give him a hug. "Are you sick?" he asked her, noticing the IV.

She shook her head, glancing down at the needle in her arm. "I think it's just fluids."

Jack raised his eyebrow at Sam, clearly amused that the six-year-old would use a term like fluids correctly, and ruffled Elsie's hair. "Hey, kiddo."

"Hi, Jack," she said, smiling up at him.

"How ya feeling?"

"Better," she said. "Sam says we can stay on Earth when my Daddy and brothers get back."

Jack glanced at Sam. "Well, I for one am not letting you guys out of my sight."

She smiled at him, and then Nick started up a monologue of everything he'd done since the last time he'd seen his cousin. Jack drew Sam off to the side.

"You okay here with them? I want to go up to the control room and see what's going on."

She nodded. "As long as you come back and tell me what you find out."

He smiled and kissed her. "Deal."

Jack left the infirmary, and Sam returned to her seat next to the bed, listening as Nick and Elsie talked and giggled with each other. She tried to be patient, but she had been patient all night and she didn't know how much more she could take before someone told her what had been happening on Kelowna for the past two hours. Just as she was beginning to consider how much Dr. Lam would hurt her for taking Elsie's IV out so she could bring the kids up to the control room, Jack returned with Cam, to her surprise.

"Cam!" she said, springing to her feet.

"Hey, Sam," he said, looking tired but not unhappy.

"What happened?"

"It was still dark when we got there, and we took 'em by surprise. Eight are dead and the other three are hiding somewhere. I left six guys out there to look for 'em, but I don't think they'll be able to cause any trouble," Cam explained.

Sam glanced at the kids. "What about survivors?" she asked softly.

He shook his head. "We didn't see anyone except the terrorists. There were . . . bodies, however."

Sam bit her lip and looked at Jack. "Elsie's the only one who knows where the caves are, but I hate to take her back."

"Why can't we just ask her?" Jack said, looking at the little girl.

"I did, and we might be able to find it, but it would have to be hidden pretty well. I think Jonas was using it as a safe house for the kids if something had happened to him," Sam answered.

Jack nodded. "Well, let's try and find it from her directions first, and if we can't, she can lead us to it."

"Sounds good. Her name's Elsie, right?" Cam said.

Sam smiled. "Yep, that's it."

"Hey, Elsie," Cam said, striding over to the bed. "My name's Cam. I was wonderin' if you could tell me how to get to that cave of yours."

Elsie looked up and frowned, then looked at Sam.

"It's okay, Elsie, he's going to go try to find the rest of your family and bring them back. Try to tell him everything you remember," Sam reassured her.

She could tell the little girl didn't trust Cam, after all she'd never met him before since he'd been on Kelowna almost the entire time she'd been on Earth, but she repeated the same instructions on how to find the cave she'd told Sam earlier.

Cam listened carefully, then grinned at her. "Thanks, kiddo. Sounds good enough to me."

"Are you sure you're okay, Cam? We can get another team out there if you want to rest," Sam said.

He gave her a look. "Me? Tired? Gotta be kidding me. I'll be right back, and I'll bring the rest of Elsie's family back with me." He flashed them a grin and left the infirmary.

Sam could only hope he would.


	27. The Rescue

Cam Mitchell had lied when he'd told Sam he wasn't tired, but he felt responsible for these people, and he wasn't about to let someone else finish the job he'd started. He had to admit however, that he wasn't expecting it to be such a long trek from the settlement to the caves. After all, a six-year-old girl had managed it. However, he and his team found themselves almost four miles from the gate, lost in a field of blue flowers. They'd been able to follow Elsie's instructions, but now that they were in the field she'd described, there was no sign of any caves, not even any mountains or hills. They weren't picking up any life signs, either, and Cam was hoping that meant the cave was shielded somehow, not the alternative. He _really_ hated to return empty-handed, but they were just wasting time at this point. They needed Elsie.

"Okay, guys. Back to the gate. Looks like we're gonna need the kid."

* * *

It had been easier than Sam anticipated to convince Carolyn to let her and Jack take Elsie to the commissary for breakfast. She suspected part of the reason was that Elsie and Nick were getting boisterous and anyone could have seen that the infirmary would've only contained them for so long. Sam had helped Elsie get cleaned up and changed into the smallest pair of scrubs they could find, which were still far too large and had to be rolled up.

Sam was crouched down in front of her, adjusting the last cuff when Elsie suddenly threw her arms around Sam's neck. A little startled, Sam nearly lost her balance, but quickly hugged the little girl back.

"You okay, honey?" she asked when Elsie didn't let go.

It took her a moment to answer. "What if my daddy doesn't want to stay again?"

Sam kept her arms around the small girl. "Then I'll change his mind."

"Promise?"

Sam pulled back so she could see Elsie's face and smiled. "I promise. You want to know something that makes promises work really well?"

Elsie nodded, and Sam stuck out her pinky. "Hook your little finger with mine, and it's called a pinky promise."

She did as directed, looping her pinky with Sam's. "And a pinky promise is like a really good promise?"

"Really, really good," Sam answered, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "Now, how about we go get some breakfast before the boys eat it all?"

Elsie smiled. "Okay."

They walked out of the infirmary hand in hand, to go meet Jack and Nick in the commissary. They got their food and sat down by the boys, and Sam was slightly dismayed to see that all Nick appeared to be eating was a piece of bread and half a donut, and she gave Jack a look.

Jack, who had the other half of the donut and a plateful of bacon and eggs in front of him, shrugged. "He said he'd only eat eggs if he got a donut so we compromised. And the bread is . . . random, I guess."

Sam shook her head but couldn't help a small smile.

"Mommy, guess what?" Nick asked, mouth full of donut.

"How about you tell me when you're finished chewing?" Sam said, helping Elsie cut up her sausage.

Nick took a huge gulp and opened his mouth wide so she could see he had finished the mouthful.

"Good job," Jack said, patting his head and exchanging an amused glance with Sam.

"What'd you want to tell me, Nicky?" Sam asked, with a little sigh.

"Did you know that eggs come out of chicken bums?"

Elsie froze with a forkful of eggs halfway to her mouth. "What's a chicken?"

"You just _had_ to tell him that," Sam said, glaring at Jack.

"Hey, don't look at me. He saw it on TV or something."

"Yeah, I sawed it on TV," Nick confirmed, stabbing a forkful of eggs off Jack's plate and popping the into his mouth.

Sam was surprised. "You still like eggs?"

Nick stared at her. "Mommy, if you eat a donut fiwst, it makes them safe."

She could sense that brand of logic anywhere. "Okay, Jack. _That_ he did not learn on TV."

Before he could answer, however, Elsie repeated her question. "What's a chicken?"

Jack had just started to explain when General Landry's voice came over the intercom. "Would the O'Neill family and Miss Quinn please come up to the briefing room?"

They all stuffed a few more bites of breakfast into their mouths, though Elsie didn't finish her eggs, and headed for the briefing room.

Cam and his team, along with General Landry and Carolyn were all waiting for them, but Sam was disappointed not to see the rest of the Quinns.

"What happened, Cam?" she asked.

He sighed and Sam could see how tired he was. "Couldn't find it. We made it all the way to the field with the blue flowers, but there was no sign of any caves, and . . ." He glanced at Elsie who was gripping Sam's hand tightly. "No life signs."

Sam's heart constricted. _Please don't let Jonas and the boys be dead._ "So, what now?"

Suddenly, the alarm for an incoming traveler went off, and they all moved to the briefing room window, Sam hoping desperately it was somehow Jonas and the twins. No one was coming through, however, and General Landry started heading down to the control room to find out what was going on, the rest of them following.

"Colonel Hill needs to speak with you, sir," one of the gate technicians said as the general came into the room. "He's on the radio now."

Sam looked at Cam. "Who?"

"Leader of the team I left to guard the gate," he answered, leaning forward to listen.

"Sir, we found the remaining three terrorists. They attempted to take the gate," Colonel Hill was saying.

"Was anyone hurt?" General Landry asked.

"None of my men, sir. We've got the three of them here, and we managed to convince them to give us some information. Apparently, they took a lot of the Kelownans captive, and they're holed up in some sort of underground base. The terrorists said they'd lead us to it if we promise not to kill them." Sam heard the smile in the Colonel's voice, and a sense of relief flooded through her. Maybe Jonas had been taken captive with the others. It was also good to know that not all of the Kelownans had been killed.

"Very good, Colonel. Stay at your position, someone will be there soon."

"Sir," Cam said. "Request permission to -"

"Go, Mitchell," Landry said. "Take your team and SG-16. They should be here by now for their mission to P-4X32."

Cam dashed off, and Sam exchanged a look with Jack, who was holding Nick. "More waiting."

Jack nodded. "That's what it looks like."

They didn't have to wait long, this time, which was good because Elsie and Nick were becoming increasingly bored. Only about an hour from the time Cam left with his teams, he radioed in to say they were bringing back refugees. Sam and Jack had been waiting in the briefing room with the kids, and now they headed down to the control room, hoping Jonas and the boys would be among the refugees. Almost a hundred ragged Kelownans, which was only about sixty percent of the population, came through the gate, but Sam didn't see Jonas, or the boys. She held Elsie's hand tightly, trying to reassure the little girl that she would always have a place on Earth, even if Jonas . . . even if he wasn't coming back.

Elsie didn't seem to be too worried, however. She tugged on Sam's hand. "Can I help that man find my daddy and brothers?"

It took Sam a moment to register that "that man" was Cam. "You want to lead them back to the cave?"

Elsie nodded earnestly. "It's really hard to find. You have to go under."

"Under what?"

Elsie motioned with her free hand. "Under the ground."

Sam thought for a moment. She was very hesitant to let Elsie go off-world, but she could be their only chance of finding her family. And, if their hiding place was deep enough underground, it was entirely possible that the life-signs detector had been unable to detect them. She looked down into the little girl's eager face. "Okay, Els. Let's go talk to Cam."

Jack, who had been listening to the conversation, looked at Sam. "You're letting her go off-world?"

"I'm going with her," Sam suddenly decided. "And Cam's team will go too."

"Me too!" Nick cried.

"Uh-uh. Sorry, pal," Jack said. "One little kid off-world is plenty."

"Pwease, Daddy?"

"Nope." Jack looked back at Sam. "I'll stay here with Nick. You guys go." He grabbed her hand as she turned to leave. "Find them, Sam."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "I'll see you soon, Nicky," she told the little boy, who was rapidly growing more upset. Then she and Elsie headed off to find Cam.

It was almost an hour later before they were ready to go through the gate. They had found Cam easily enough, but permission from General Landry was a little harder to get, and the refugees were still being dealt with. Now they stood in front of the gate, Elsie in a tac vest that was threatening to swallow her whole, and Sam feeling decidedly impatient. They were with Cam's team and a med team too, and Sam just kept hoping they weren't going to be too late for Jonas. Finally, the wormhole established, and Cam's team headed through, Sam, Elsie and the med team right behind them.

Sam was prepared to hold Elsie and cover her eyes, remembering that Cam had said there were bodies strewn throughout the settlement. However, as she did a quick look-over after stepping through the gate, she realized that someone must have at least gathered, if not buried the bodies somewhere in this long day. She was grateful, because Elsie grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, eager to find her family.

Cam moved to walk next to them, signaling his team to surround them and head out. "Did I tell you this kid walked almost four miles on her own?" Cam asked Sam quietly.

Sam stared at him for a moment; she hadn't realized it had been so far. Another thought suddenly hit her. "In the dark. She walked four miles in the dark, and had to get past the terrorists guarding the gate."

Cam shook his head in amazement, looking at Elsie. "She saved what's left of her people. Pretty big accomplishment for a, what, five? Six-year-old?"

"Six," Sam said.

"C'mon, Sam! Faster!" said six-year-old cried, pulling on Sam's hand.

"Hold on, Els. We have to be careful."

Elsie let up a bit, but Sam could still feel a slight tug on her hand. She understood. She was eager herself to get to the caves and with any luck, find Jonas.

It took quite a while to make it back to the field with blue flowers, as everyone was being extra cautious and watchful, knowing they had a very small girl with them. When they reached the field, Elsie let go of Sam's hand and ran forward. Everyone ran after her, Sam shouting her name, but the little girl didn't go far. She stopped at a large, flat rock and pointed.

"You have to go in here," she said, bending down to wiggle her fingers under the edge. Cam moved to help her, though the rock was light enough for Elsie to move by herself. The rock shifted away, they found themselves looking down a dark hole in the ground. Elsie was already starting to lower herself down it, but Sam grabbed her.

"Hold on, sweetheart. Let Cam go first," she said.

Cam nodded and sat on the edge of the hole, turning on the light on his P-90 and shining it downward. He looked back up. "It's only about a five-foot drop." And with that, he hopped down and they lost sight of him for a moment. He reappeared a minute later. "I might need Elsie again. It branches off down here and I have no idea which way to take."

Elsie looked up at Sam, and she nodded. "Okay, Cam. I'll hand her down to you, then I'm coming too."

Sam picked Elsie up and lowered her into the hole, towards Cam. "Got her," he affirmed, and Sam released her hold, then climbed down after them. The ceiling was low, and Sam and Cam both had to duck as they walked through the earthen tunnel. They were walking down a steep incline however, and before long, the tunnel opened up into a rock cavern with several different tunnels leading out of it.

"Okay, kiddo," Cam said. "Which way?"

Elsie started forward, and Sam grabbed her hand, still nervous about something happening to the little girl. Elsie didn't seem to mind, just led Sam to one of the tunnels, Cam close behind. As Elsie led them further into a maze of tunnels, Sam thought she caught the faint sound of crying.

"My brothers!" Elsie exclaimed, breaking in to a run. Sam and Cam ran after her, the sound of crying getting louder. To Sam, it was a welcome sound. At least it meant the twins were still alive. They didn't have to run long. Elsie led them into a tiny cavern, and a sweep of Cam's light revealed Jonas lying on the floor and the twins huddled against the wall. The boys caught sight of their sister and ran forward to hug her. The three siblings embraced, the twins still crying brokenly, and Sam crouched down to gather them all into her arms, feeling tears coming on herself. The boys realized who was hugging them, and clung to Sam as if they were afraid she would leave them in the dark cave again.

"Elsie," she choked out, wanting to tell the little girl just how amazing she was, but Elsie wasn't listening. She was crouched next to her father, as was Cam.

"He's alive," Cam said. "Unconscious. Looks like he's lost a lot of blood. We need the med team down here." Sam met his eyes and saw the concern there. Her stomach plummeted. They couldn't come this far only to have Jonas die on them.

"I'll stay here with Jonas and the boys," she said, her throat still constricted with emotion. "Elsie, can you take Cam back up and lead the med team back?"

Elsie nodded slowly, reluctant to leave her family, but realizing she still had work to do. She grabbed Cam's hand, and they started back through the tunnels at a run. It was only then that Sam realized Cam had the only source of light. She had a flashlight in her vest, but she couldn't get to it with the twins clinging to her, and she wasn't about to pry them off. So, they sat there in the darkness, the only sound that of the twins crying softly. The sudden memory of the day she and Jack had brought Elsie and the twins home came to mind. She remembered how frightened and upset they were, and she also remembered how Jack had started singing to them. She decided a song was in order. She began with "The Turtle Song", the twins' favorite. They calmed down almost immediately, recognizing and gaining comfort from the familiar song. They relaxed into Sam, still gripping her vest with their small hands, and she held them tightly in the darkness. By the time Sam made it through her small repertoire of children's songs, Cam and Elsie had returned with the med team.

Sam, carrying the boys, followed Cam and Elsie out of the cavern, giving the med team room to work.

"Is Daddy going to be okay?" Elsie asked softly, leaning into Sam's leg.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Sam said, hoping the little girl didn't pick up on the shake in her voice.

Cam moved closer to them and put a gentle hand on Elsie's head. "Everything's gonna work out, kiddo. Thanks to you."

She nodded, and they were silent for another long moment. Then, she looked up at Cam. "Can you hold me?" she said in a very small voice.

"Sure thing," Cam said softly, crouching down so he could pick her up with one arm as the other one still held his P-90. "Better?"

She nodded, wrapping one arm around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder. Sam smiled at the sight, and wished she had a camera on her.

A few minutes later, the med team emerged, carrying Jonas on a stretcher, and hurried up to the surface. Sam and Cam, still carrying the kids, went a little more slowly out of necessity, but they all made it back to the surface, and from there, to the gate. Jack and Nick were waiting for them on the other side, and Sam saw the clear relief on Jack's face that all of the Quinns were at least still alive. Jonas was hurried to the infirmary, and the rest of the day was a bit of a blur, as the twins needed to be treated for dehydration, and Jonas ended up going into surgery.

It wasn't until after Jack and Sam had taken all the kids to the commissary for dinner that they received word on Jonas.

"He's stable," Carolyn told them, looking weary. "He lost a lot of blood, but most of the wounds were superficial. With any luck, he'll be out in time for Christmas."

Sam was so relieved to hear that, she almost cried.

"Is he awake?" Jack asked.

Carolyn shook her head. "He'll be out for the night. It would probably be best if you took the kids home until tomorrow."

Sam nodded, looking over at where Nick and his cousins were bouncing one of Jack's bouncy balls of the wall, giggling. "Yes. Let's take them _home_."


	28. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Mommy! Mommy, guess what?"

Sam started from sleep to find Nick about two inches from her face. She glanced at the clock. The bleary numbers told her that it was only a little after five o'clock in the morning. Not that she hadn't expected this, it was Christmas morning after all, but she had been hoping Nick would let them sleep in a little. She looked into her little boy's glowing face. "Morning, buddy."

"Mommy, it's _snowing!_" he shouted, running around to the other side of the bed to make sure Jack was up too.

Sam smiled at his exuberance. The little boy's excitement was contagious, despite the early hour. "Hey, Nicky, you better not have gone downstairs yet," she said, pulling back the covers and getting out of bed.

He looked up at her, big blue eyes sparkling. "I didn't, Mommy. I pwomise."

She grinned and swept him up into her arms, giving him a tight hug. "Good boy. Are your cousins up yet?"

"Nope," he said, squirming to get down. "I'm gonna get them up wight now!"

She caught him, tickling his tummy until he collapsed in a fit of giggles. "How about we wait and let them wake up on their own?"

Over Nick's giggles however, she heard excited shouts coming from the guest room, and knew Elsie and the boys were already awake. Nick knew it too, and dashed from the room. Sam followed him, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Jack was getting up. He was sitting up and rubbing his eyes, and she figured that was good enough for the moment.

Reaching the guest room, she found all four kids standing on the bed so they could see out the window. Nick had been right, it was snowing. The kids stood there, captivated by the little flakes, until they suddenly remembered that Santa Claus had come, and there were presents waiting downstairs. They all scrambled off the bed, giggling and discussing the possibilities of what their presents could be.

"Hold on, guys," Sam said, blocking the doorway. "We need to go make sure Jonas is awake before presents."

None of them objected, and they raced past her to go downstairs and wake him up.

"Better hurry, Jack!" she shouted as they ran down the hallway. She followed the kids downstairs to the other guest room and stopped in the doorway, watching as the twins jumped up on the bed and shouted in their father's ear. Jonas came awake with a start, and looked around in surprise.

"It's Christmas, Daddy!" Elsie said, tugging on his hand. "We hafta see what Santa Claus brought us, remember?"

Jonas nodded, still looking disoriented, but got out of bed and let his children drag him into the living room. Sam caught his wince, knowing he was still a little tender from his injuries, but decided not to bug him about taking his pain medication until after presents. Jack was waiting with the video camera as the kids came in and saw their stockings and the presents brought by "Santa."

The kids rushed forward, Elsie helping the twins figure out whose stocking was whose, and the adults sank down onto the couch. Sam watched the kids pull things out of their stockings with little exclamations of surprise and happiness, and felt her mood lift even higher. She glanced at Jonas, trying to fathom what the man must be feeling right now, and was relieved to see a faint smile on his face as he watched the kids. It had been a rough week-and-a-half for the man – he had only come home from the infirmary a couple days ago – but he was handling things well, considering. And, to everyone's relief, he and the rest of the Kelownan refugees had decided to stay on Earth. They could only take their settlement being destroyed so many times, and now that their population had been cut almost in half, it would be difficult to rebuild. The SGC was helping them find homes and food and clothes, and Cassie and Andrew had put their new fostering license to good use, taking five Kelownan orphans into their home. Sam thought everything had turned out for the best, though she knew Jonas might need some time to figure that out for himself. She touched his arm.

"You okay?"

He glanced at her, smiling a little. "Actually," he turned his gaze back to the kids. "I'm . . . I'm good."

She smiled and patted his wrist. "I'm glad."

Just then, Nick leaped into her lap to show her the toy he'd discovered in his stocking, followed by the twins and Elsie. It was then, with all of them squashed on the couch, talking and laughing, that Sam knew with a sudden surety, that everything was going to be just fine. She grinned at Jack, seeing the same sentiment in his eyes, and then at Jonas. To her surprise, he was grinning. A grin that reminded her of when she'd first met him. _Yep,_ she thought._ Home. We're all home for good._

_THE END

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Well, that's it, folks. This chapter was _almost _in time for Christmas in July! I hope you'll excuse the holiday sentiment even though (at least where I live) it's about 100 degrees outside.

Anyway, thank you so much for sticking with me through the whole story! I just realized I started posting this over a year ago. If I had known it was going to be this long and involved, I might not have ever started! It was all of you who reviewed that kept the story going. I really wouldn't have finished it without your encouragement!

Also, I just have to give credit to my six adorable nieces and nephews who were the inspiration for most of the things the kids did. I feel bad for taking all the credit when this story wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for their fun little personalities.

One more thing. Stay tuned for a story about how Ethan came to the SGC, and their early adventures with him. I have a lot of it written already, and I also have lots of one-shots that I'd like to get on here. So yeah, basically, shameless self-promotion. :)

Thank you all again for your kind reviews! See you at the next story.


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